Trying for a Baby? Why It Is Taking Longer for Many Young Couples, and What You Can Do.

Many couples in their twenties and early thirties expect pregnancy to happen quickly. When months pass without a positive test, worry, silence and blame often follow. Family members ask questions. Friends offer advice. Some couples quietly begin to wonder whether something is wrong with them.

If this sounds familiar, you are not alone. The World Health Organization estimates that about 1 in 6 people of reproductive age worldwide experiences infertility at some point in life. It is not rare, it is not a punishment, and it is not a verdict on your worth. In most cases it is a medical issue with a cause that can be looked for, and often treated.

This article explains what infertility is, why it is being seen in younger people, what can cause it in women and men, which signs to watch for, and when to see a doctor.

What Is Infertility?

Infertility is generally defined as not becoming pregnant after 12 months of regular, unprotected sex. For women aged 35 and over, doctors usually advise getting checked after 6 months, because egg quantity and quality decline faster with age.

Two terms are useful:

Primary infertility: a couple has never had a pregnancy.

Secondary infertility: a couple has had at least one pregnancy before, but now has difficulty conceiving again.

Many people believe infertility is a "woman's problem." It is not. Fertility depends on both partners. Roughly speaking, problems are found in the woman in some couples, in the man in others, in both in some, and in a number of couples no clear cause is found even after testing. This is why testing both partners matters.

How Pregnancy Happens: A Quick Picture

It helps to understand what has to go right:

The woman's ovary releases an egg (ovulation), usually once a month.

The man produces healthy sperm in sufficient numbers that can swim well.

The fallopian tube must be open so egg and sperm can meet.

The fertilised egg must travel to the womb and attach to a healthy lining.

A problem at any one of these steps can delay or prevent pregnancy. The causes below mostly fall into one of these steps.

Common Causes in Women

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). A hormone imbalance that can make periods irregular or absent and interfere with ovulation. It is one of the most common treatable causes of female infertility.

Uterine fibroids. Non-cancerous growths in the womb. Depending on their size and position, some can interfere with implantation or block the womb cavity. Many are harmless and cause no problem at all.

Blocked or damaged fallopian tubes. The most common cause is scarring from infections, especially untreated or repeatedly treated pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), which often follows untreated sexually transmitted infections.

Endometriosis. Tissue similar to the womb lining grows outside the womb, which can cause painful periods, pelvic pain and fertility problems.

Age-related decline. Fertility gradually declines with age, and the decline speeds up after the mid-thirties.

Common Causes in Men

Low sperm count, poor movement or abnormal shape. Sperm must be plentiful, move well and have a normal structure. A semen analysis checks these.

Varicocele. Enlarged veins in the scrotum can raise testicular temperature and reduce sperm quality. It is common and often treatable.

Lifestyle and environmental factors.

Smoking

Heavy alcohol use

Anabolic steroids and some "muscle-building" supplements, which can sharply reduce sperm production

Frequent heat exposure to the testicles, for example long hours of sitting, hot baths or saunas, or resting a laptop on the lap

Infections and injury. Untreated sexually transmitted infections, mumps in adulthood, and injury to the testicles can all affect fertility.

Causes That Affect Both Partners

Untreated sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Chlamydia and gonorrhoea often cause no symptoms but can silently damage the tubes in women and the reproductive tract in men.

Overweight and obesity. Excess weight can disturb hormones in both sexes. Being significantly underweight can also affect ovulation.

Chronic stress. Stress alone is rarely the only cause, but long-term stress can disrupt sleep, hormones, desire and relationships, all of which matter for conception.

Hormonal contraceptives without medical guidance. Most people recover their fertility after stopping contraception, though the return of regular cycles can take some months. Using strong emergency contraceptive pills repeatedly, or injecting hormones without supervision, can upset your cycle and make it harder to know what is going on. If your periods do not return after stopping, see a doctor.

Self-medication. Unregulated herbal mixtures and tablets taken "to boost fertility" can delay proper diagnosis, and some are unsafe. Always tell your doctor what you have been taking.

Signs That Deserve Attention

In women:

Very irregular, very painful or absent periods

Severe pelvic pain

Unusual vaginal discharge, or pain during sex

Excess facial or body hair, or persistent acne (possible hormone signs)

In men:

Pain, swelling or heaviness in the testicles

Difficulty getting or keeping an erection

A very low sex drive

Small, firm testicles or noticeable swelling in the scrotal veins

In both: a history of STIs, pelvic or genital surgery, or previous infections that were not fully treated.

The Emotional Side Nobody Talks About

Infertility is not only physical. Couples often experience:

Anxiety and low mood

Guilt, shame or a sense of failure

Strain in the relationship

Pressure from family, friends, workplaces or religious communities

In many societies women carry most of the blame, even when the issue lies with the man or with both partners. This is both unfair and medically incorrect. Facing the problem together, as a team, protects both the relationship and the chance of getting answers.

If you feel overwhelmed, speak with a counsellor or a trusted health worker. Seeking emotional support is part of the treatment, not a weakness.

What You Can Do

1. Know when to get checked. After 12 months of trying, or after 6 months if the woman is 35 or older, see a doctor. Go sooner if you have irregular or absent periods, known pelvic infections, testicular problems, or a history of surgery in the pelvic area.

2. Go as a couple. Both partners should be assessed. A semen analysis is simple and quick, and it saves many couples months of uncertainty.

3. Treat infections early. Get tested for STIs, and complete any treatment you are prescribed. Ask your partner to be treated too.

4. Aim for a healthy weight. Balanced meals with vegetables, fruit, whole grains, beans and lean protein, plus regular activity, support hormone balance in both partners.

5. Cut back on harmful habits. Stop smoking, reduce alcohol, and avoid anabolic steroids and unregulated supplements.

6. Keep moving. Regular physical activity supports circulation and general reproductive health. Gentle daily movement counts.

7. Manage stress and sleep. Aim for regular sleep, make time for rest and relationships, and talk about how you feel.

8. Avoid self-medication. Do not rely on unverified remedies or drug-shop advice. A proper diagnosis is the fastest route to the right treatment.

A Note of Hope

Many causes of infertility, such as infections, PCOS, varicocele, and hormonal problems, can be treated. For others, there are options such as ovulation medicines, minor procedures, and assisted reproduction. Early assessment gives you more choices and less lost time.

Delaying a check-up out of fear, shame or silence is one of the most common reasons couples lose precious time. Answers are better than uncertainty.
Because the family you dream of building starts with the health decision you make today.

Medical disclaimer:
This article is for education only and does not replace advice from a qualified doctor. If you are trying to conceive and are concerned, consult a healthcare professional for assessment and personal guidance.

 Want to Learn More?

Get our complete guide — Breaking The Silence: The Complete ED Guide — and take control of your health today.

 Get the Ebook — $7

Comments

Genital Herpes: Symptoms, Causes, Treatment and Prevention

An evidence-based guide to a common, lifelong and entirely manageable infection. Genital herpes is not a rare affliction visited upon the careless. It is one of the most widespread viral infections in human history, and the majority of people who carry it will never know. The World Health Organization estimates that roughly 520 million people aged 15 to 49 were living with herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) in 2020, while a further 376 million carried a genital HSV-1 infection yet only about 205 million of them experienced any recognisable symptom that year. The virus is everywhere; awareness of it is not. That gap matters because herpes spreads most efficiently from people who have no sores, no warning signs, and no reason to suspect they are infectious. Understanding how the virus actually behaves how it invades, how it hides, and how it resurfaces is therefore the single most effective protection available. And the reassurance almost nobody hears at diagnosi...

Sleep Hygiene Explained: Why Poor Sleep Damages Your Health, and Five Techniques That Help You Fall Asleep Faster

Sleep is not a passive shutdown of the brain. While the body rests, it is engaged in active, essential work: repairing muscle tissue, consolidating memory, regulating hormones, and clearing metabolic waste products from brain tissue through a process known as glymphatic clearance. When that process is consistently disrupted through poor sleep hygiene, the consequences extend well beyond next day tiredness. Tracking sleep, recovery, and activity patterns over time can help identify disruption before it becomes chronic. The WHOOP Peak Membership offers continuous activity and sleep tracking with personalized coaching insights for people who want daily visibility into these patterns. What Sleep Hygiene Actually Means Sleep hygiene refers to the set of habits and environmental conditions that determine how well and how consistently a person sleeps. It is not a single behavior but a cumulative pattern, covering light exposure, timing, temperature, diet, and the associations a pe...

What Cannabis Really Does to Your Brain: The Hidden Effects Most Users Never Expect.

What Science Says About Cannabis and Your Mind Introduction Picture this: you're in the middle of a conversation when suddenly your mind goes blank. The word you wanted to say disappears. The point you were making vanishes. Everyone waits while you struggle to reconnect the dots. You laugh it off and blame distraction, stress, or lack of sleep. But what if those moments are not random? For millions of cannabis users worldwide, occasional forgetfulness, reduced focus, and mental fog may be signs of something happening deeper inside the brain. While cannabis is often viewed as harmless especially as legalization expands across many countries, scientists have spent decades studying its effects on memory, attention, mood, motivation, and brain development. The debate is no longer about whether cannabis affects the brain. The scientific evidence is clear: it does. The more important question is how much, how often, and who is most at risk. Understanding these effects is not abou...

Burn First Aid: What Your Skin Does in the First 20 Minutes, and Why Ice Makes It Worse.

A pot of boiling water misses the stove and splashes across your forearm. There is a half second of nothing, and then pain, redness, and a frantic mental search: Toothpaste? Butter? Ice? What did grandma say to do? Here's the uncomfortable truth: in those first minutes, your burn is still actively getting worse, even after the hot water is gone. What you do (and what you refuse to put on your skin) can decide whether the injury stays minor or becomes something that follows a person for the rest of their life. According to the World Health Organization, burns kill an estimated 180,000 people every year, with most deaths occurring in low and middle income countries. The majority of burns happen in homes and workplaces, which means the first responder is almost never a doctor. It's a parent, a colleague, or the person standing next to the stove. That makes burn first aid one of the few life skills that is genuinely useful to everyone. Your Skin Is Not Packaging. It's a Work...

Know Your Normal: What Your Breasts Feel Like Before Anything Goes Wrong.

Picture Ama, 38, who sells provisions at a market in Accra. One evening in the bath she feels a small, firm spot in her left breast, up toward the armpit. It doesn't hurt. Her period is due, so she tells herself it will settle. It doesn't settle, and months go by. Ama is a composite character, not a real patient. Her timeline is real, though. In a three year study of 158 patients at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, the average duration of symptoms before treatment was about 10 months, and 57.6% arrived with stage III or IV disease. This article is about closing that gap: what normal breasts look like, which changes deserve a professional's attention, and how fast to act. The numbers behind Ama's story Ghana. At Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, 85.2% of patients with confirmed breast cancer presented at stage III or IV, and the disease affected mostly younger, premenopausal women. At Korle Bu, the most commonly affected age group was 40 to 49. This is not...

Eczema, Why Your Skin Itches, Cracks and Flares.

The Itch That Takes Over Your Day It starts small: a dry, itchy patch on the inner elbow, the back of the knee or the side of the neck. You scratch. It feels good for about five seconds. Then the itch comes back stronger, and the skin turns rough, tight or darker than the skin around it. Some nights the itching wakes you up. Some days you wear long sleeves in the heat so no one asks about it. Then the advice arrives from everywhere: "It's an allergy." "Your blood is dirty." "Try this soap, this herbal mix, this cream that worked for my cousin." Most of this advice is well meant, and much of it is wrong. Here is what is actually happening in your skin when you have eczema, and what you can do about it. What Is Eczema? Eczema (also called dermatitis) is a group of conditions that cause dry, itchy, inflamed skin. The most common type is atopic dermatitis , and when people say "eczema" they usually mean this one. Other types include: Irr...

Get Your Blood Moving: 10 Easy Exercises You Can Do Anywhere.

Think about the last time you sat through a long trotro ride, a full day at the office, a lengthy church service or an evening of television. When you finally stood up, did your legs feel heavy, your feet stiff or your ankles a little puffy? That feeling is your body asking for movement. And the good news is that answering it does not require a gym, special clothes or a big block of free time. Why Movement Matters for Blood Flow Your heart is the pump that sends blood around your body, carrying oxygen and nutrients to your muscles, brain, skin and organs. But getting blood back to the heart is a different challenge, especially from your feet and legs. The blood has to travel upward, against gravity. This is where your muscles come in. Each time your calf muscles tighten, they squeeze the veins running through them, and tiny one-way valves inside those veins keep the blood moving toward the heart rather than slipping backward. Doctors sometimes call the calves the "sec...

5 Powerful Exercises to Undo the Damage of Sitting All Day.

You may not smoke, drink excessively, or eat unhealthy foods but if you sit for long hours every day, your health could still be at serious risk. From office workers in Accra to drivers, students, and traders, many people spend most of their day seated. What feels harmless, just sitting can quietly damage your body over time. The good news? A few simple exercises can reverse much of that damage. What’s Wrong with Sitting Too Long Sitting for extended periods slows down your body’s natural systems. When you remain seated for hours, your muscles become inactive, your blood circulation reduces, and your metabolism drops. Over time, your body begins to “shut down” in subtle ways. In Ghana, many jobs now involve prolonged sitting like the bank workers, office staff, teachers, drivers, and even students preparing for exams. Unfortunately, most people do not take breaks or move enough during the day. The result is stiffness, fatigue, and long-term health risks that often go unnoticed until th...

Gonorrhoea: The Infection That Hides in Plain Sight, and Is Learning to Outsmart Our Antibiotics

Two people are exposed to gonorrhoea on the same weekend. Within three days, the first has burning when passing urine and a thick, pus-like discharge. He is uncomfortable, but he goes to a clinic, is tested, treated and followed up. The second, a woman, notices nothing. Perhaps a slightly increased discharge she puts down to her cycle. Perhaps mild burning she assumes is a urinary infection. The bacteria are still multiplying in her cervix. Gonorrhoea persists because the symptoms are unevenly distributed. The people who feel the infection tend to get treated. The people who don't tend to carry it, and pass it on, for weeks or months. This article explains what gonorrhoea is, what the bacterium does inside the body, why symptoms are so unreliable, how it can damage fertility, and why it has become one of the most closely watched antibiotic-resistance threats in the world. The Organism: A Bacterium Built for Survival Gonorrhoea is caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae , al...

"The Alpha Health Insights"

Search This Blog