Being overweight creates a number of health problems. Obesity can lead to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and doctors believe there are less direct connections between obesity and cancer. Our bodies are meant to sustain only a certain amount of weight, and when we are overweight, it taxes our system. Exercise and diet are two of the most important things people should focus on when trying to achieve good health. This is especially true when it comes to getting pregnant. Couples who visit a fertility clinic should be just as concerned with their overall health and their weight, as they are with the procedures. Infertility treatment can help you get pregnant, but your success will come much easier if your body is at a healthy weight.
Studies have shown that women who are overweight are at increased risk for pregnancy complications. This ranges from moderate risk complications such as gestational diabetes to more severe incidents such as miscarriage. Healthy babies can be born to obese women, but there is a greater risk for health problems for both the mother and the child. This continues long after birth and there are indirect links between obese parents and childhood diseases. However, to get pregnant in the first place and have a healthy pregnancy, it is important for a mother to be a healthy weight.
Obesity related problems with pregnancy are not just an issue for the mother. Studies have shown that obese men have lower and poorer sperm quality and quantity. The sperm are less mobile and have a difficult time traveling in the right direction. Medical research has shown that the sperm of obese men appear to swim aimlessly without a particular direction or endpoint as their goal. These studies have been compared to findings in healthy men in their 20s and 30s and researchers have concluded that overweight men will have a more difficult time becoming fathers because of obesity’s effect on their sperm.
Overweight men were also found to have lower sperm counts than men of a healthy weight. Researchers were even surprised by the difference in the count, which could range from 20 million to 150 million between healthy weight and overweight men. This difference in quantity plays a major role in a couple’s ability to conceive. The fewer sperm there are the less chance one will connect with an egg.
Some believe the difference in quality is due to an imbalance in hormone levels, which is caused by body fat. The same is true for obese women. Body fat wreaks havoc on hormones, directly affecting the reproductive system. Fat elevates levels of estrogen in the body, which not only plays a role in a person’s ability to conceive, it puts them at risk for a variety of reproductive cancers. Testosterone levels in obese men were also found to be below normal. If a couple is trying to conceive, it is important for both of them to do what they can to maintain a healthy body weight and keep their hormone levels under control.