A group of U.S. researchers found that workaholics and women who often lift heavy loads have lower chances of getting pregnant than their more moderate peers.
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Researchers adopted 1,739 nurses who have been making an attempt to get pregnant and estimated 16 % of them failed to obtain this objective inside 12 months, and 5 % nonetheless hadn’t conceived after two years.
Compared with women who worked 21-40 hours each week, those who worked more than 40 hours weekly took around 20% longer to get pregnant, according to the results.
It was also linked to moving or lifting at least 25 pounds many times a day, and lengthened the time to conceive by nearly 50 percent.
“Our results show that heavy work, both in terms of physical strain and long hours, appears to have a detrimental impact on female nurses’ ability to get pregnant, “Audrey Gaskins, lead author of the study shared to Reuters by email”.
However, the process may take a little longer if people are older, or if they have their fertility compromised by some other medical condition.
For the current study, Gaskins and colleagues reviewed data on women participating in a nationwide survey of nurses between 2010 and 2014 who at some point said they were trying to conceive. Lifting or moving about 25-pound loads many times a day has been found to delay pregnancy time about 50%. Participants were asked to fill up questionnaires regarding their work schedule and the amount of physical labor required to fulfill their daily working routines.
Majority worked exclusively days or nights, even though 16 percent had “rotating shifts” at different times. Subsequently, their exhaustion will hinder them from engaging in sexual intercourse. Heavy lifting had an extremely strong correlation with difficulty conceiving, as even after women with irregular menstrual cycles were excluded from the data, heavy lifting was connected to a total timeline to conception of thirty three percent longer than average.
There are a couple of explanations for these findings: Firstly, Gaskin said, it could be certain working conditions make it easier to get pregnant, in the same vein it’s possible women struggling to get pregnant are deliberately picking up extra shifts. Overweight and obese women were found to be more affected by the effects of heavy lifting.
Most of the nurses were also over 33 years of age.
She said: ‘If this effect is real, it is likely due to the fact that these women are having less frequent intercourse due to their work demands’.
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Couples who want to get pregnant faster should have sex at least twice a week, and not only on weekends, she advised. They should also maintain good health, weight, exercise and avoid smoking and stress.
