Causes:
There are a large variety of reasons for infertility covering biological, environmental, emotional, and social aspects of life.
Some studies indicate that high levels of stress can disrupt the function of the pituitary gland. This can negatively impact fertility, especially in women.
With the growing trend of couples trying to conceive later in life, aging-related difficulties often play a factor.
The Estrogen Connection
Estrogen is a critical hormone throughout the stages of pregnancy. Too much or too little at key moments can make the difference between a healthy conception and a healthy child. For centuries, these levels have been naturally maintained and or dealt with internally by the body. Today, frightening trends in environmental exposure may devastatingly threaten this delicate balance.
The luxuries enjoyed by our modern lifestyle has brought with it an arsenal of chemical by-products released into the air, land, and water we interact with every day. These includes air, water, and food-borne pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides, cleaning products, car, school bus, and truck exhaust, and heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and arsenic that may be present in paint, plastics, food and soil.
Known carcinogens are nationally banned, exported, or regulated as their proof of their harm is objectively discovered. In industry, products are deemed innocent until proven guilty. And obtaining such "guilt" is an expensive, slow, primarily scientific process. Sadly, there is an additional class of toxins for which very little action has been taken on, due to their indirect, long-term, and subtle effects on biological organisms.
Hormone-mimicking chemicals are often byproducts of a variety of industrial processes or part of the fabrication process itself. When introduced to mammals, they "impersonate" naturally occurring hormones in the body. Estrogen is the most common hormone mimicked. Testosterone is less common. Both are essential to reproduction.
The two primary ways chemicals disrupt normal hormone interaction in the body is either through stimulation or prevention of a natural response. The "imposters" latch on to receptor sites in the body and send mixed messages. For example, an estrogen receptor responsible for triggering a key moment in fetal development may occur too early or too late. Alternative, hormone-mimics can prevent natural hormones from interacting with receptor sites, thereby blocking potential messages. The effects on the individual can range from no observed effect, to completely sabotaging the ability to conceive, develop a healthy child during key development phases of the first trimester, or bring a pregnancy to term.
Ingesting hormone-mimicking chemicals does not immediately hurt. You cannot see, smell, or taste them per se. Their potential damage lies in their effects on subsequent generations -- our children.
The most current book on this matter is Our Stolen Future by Theo Colborn, Dianne Dumanoski, and John Peterson Myers. It is an extremely thorough, accountable work covering thousands of scientific studies and uncovering the links and corresponding possiblities of potential impacts.
For viable methods of avoiding exposure, see Remedies/Lifestyle, below.
