- Fertility rates are at an all-time low in the United States.
- That is partly because people are choosing to have children later in life, but research also shows there's also been a drop in sperm count, and that there's a real knowledge gap about conception.
- Taking steps to improve your overall health and learn about fertility will help you in the long run, if you do want to have children naturally.
If you're in your 20s, having children may be the furthest thing from your mind. After all, you probably have plenty of time to think about having kids before you begin the process of trying to conceive, if that's something you even want.
But if you know that you want to have children at some point, experts say that you should probably be thinking about your fertility in your 20s, rather than later, to make it easier on yourself when you do want to start.
After all, fertility rates are currently at a historic low in the United States, and a lot of that is because people who can bear children are waiting longer to have them. And that's not necessarily a bad thing — after all, experts recognize that means people may be more financially stable and "ready" for children.
It's common knowledge that it gets harder to conceive as you get older, though conceiving in your 30s is still entirely possible for many people. But age isn't what is necessarily so scary to many researchers.
Often the people who would become pregnant may have been on birth control for much of their adult life. And although you can become pregnant immediately after stopping birth control, of course, those people don't know much about their "natural" menstrual cycles because they may not have had one in a while.
It's a bit more of a learning curve when you come off of hormonal birth control to conceive because you're not always aware of when you ovulate, said Lea von Bidder, the founder of the "FitBit for fertility,"Ava.
"You have these people and they're trying to conceive for the first time, and the last time that they heard about trying to get pregnant was in high school, where they've heard that they can get pregnant any day, all the time," von Bidder said at a fertility event attended by INSIDER.
"There's a clear reason why we're doing that (in sex ed), but the thing is if that is the information that you have when you're 35, 36 — and for the first time in your life you're off the pill — then that's going to be extremely overwhelming," she continued.
Because of this, 51% of women surveyed by Ava who were 40 years or older, said that they did not understand "the importance of timing your cycle" in order to get pregnant.
So many couples underestimate how long it's going to take to conceive, and it's a lot more difficult to do so than they may have anticipated. In fact, 83% of women surveyed by Ava said that they underestimated how much time it would take to get pregnant. Throw in outside factors, like if the person has Polycystic Ovary Syndrome or they're in poor health, and experts say that it can be that much more difficult to conceive.
A lot of the conversation around reproductive health is centered around women. In fact, the CDC focuses tracking infertility in the US by looking at people who identify as women only. But the American Society for Reproductive Medicine reports that people with penises are either the sole or contributing cause in about 40% of infertility cases.
A big part of that, experts said, is because people who identify as men aren't taught to think about their fertility. It's assumed they can conceive a baby at any point because they're not taught to have the fear of their "biological clock." They also don't get as comprehensive reproductive health as people who go to the gynecologist do, so they don't have the resources, and they can feel a lot of shame once they do have to start talking with a doctor about fertility.
"You have guys that come in and they're terrified of walking in for a semen analysis," said Dr. Joel Batzofin, founder of New York Fertility Services, at an event. "Usually what happens is the wife sends him in, or the wife's doctors sends him in and the guy comes in, and this guy is terrified and he will be terrified until he gets the report later that day."
These conversations will likely have to happen more and more as men are seeing a drop in sperm count, according to recent research by Trak, an at-home male fertility testing system. In fact, sperm count has declined by 52% on average from 1973 to 2011, according to Trak's research.
The reasons behind this decline need more research, but experts at Trak identify men's lifestyles as something that may be contributing to the problem. According to their survey, many men who are beginning to track their sperm count are sitting for long stretches and not getting enough sleep. Of those surveyed, 65% said they eat fruits and vegetables less than once per day, and 60% exercised for 20 minutes once or twice a week or less.
"You look at the way a lot of these young guys are living and a lot of them simply do not lead healthy lives, and that hard living can wreak havoc on sperm count," Trak founder Greg Sommer said.
All of this shows that everyone, of every sex and gender identity, who wants to have children naturally at some point should be thinking about their fertility, or at least their sperm count or menstrual cycle. It doesn't have to be an overwhelming or scary thing. For people with penises, it can just come down to prioritizing overall health. For those who menstruate, it could mean logging your cycle into a period tracker and making simple lifestyle changes like eating healthy and getting enough sleep.
This can be daunting at first, but knowing more about your body is never a bad thing. And the steps that you take now will make it that much easier for you when the day comes when you want to start trying.