Why are More Couples Struggling to Conceive Today ?

As a functional nutrition practitioner, I get to speak with healthcare professionals from different fields through podcasts, panel discussion, interviews and fertility is one topic that comes up more often than you’d think and I hear the same thing- “Over the decades, infertility cases have increased”

Honestly this makes sense, times have changed and so is the way we live. People are now aware and comfortable talking about IVF, fertility treatments, sperm quality, miscarriages and reproductive health, while specialised fertility centres, testing and assisted reproductive technologies have also become more accessible.

Ironically, on the other hand, infertility affects around 1 in 6 people globally, that’s approximately 17.5% of the adult population, according to the World Health Organization. And it naturally makes you pause and think

Is this simply a matter of age, hormones and genetics? Or could our lifestyle be playing a role too?

So today, let’s understand what infertility actually means, how male and female fertility can be influenced, and what some of the underlying factors behind infertility can look like.

What is Infertility?

From a medical standpoint, infertility generally means not being able to get pregnant after 1 year of unprotected sex and actively trying. At this point, it’s recommended to visit a specialist. And if you are navigating this right now, please know you are far from alone

Honestly, if you look at infertility through a functional lens, it’s not just a final medical diagnosis. I really believe it’s actually our body’s protective way of raising its hand and saying, “Hey, I don’t feel entirely safe or fueled enough to grow and nourish a human right now.” When your cells are dealing with hidden inflammation, gut issues, unmanaged stress, or crashing energy, your brain goes in a high alert mode, it hits the pause button on crucial processes like hormone production and reproduction to protect your survival.

You see, conventional medicine usually looks at fertility on a very surface level, they tend to focus heavily on your maternal age and basic hormone levels. Their standard route is to run a checklist of tests and then immediately prescribe antibiotics, hormone pills, or aggressive therapies. Their primary agenda is simply to force conception at all costs. But that’s exactly where functional nutrition comes in. I firmly believe that if we don’t address the underlying root causes, the same issues will just bounce back, or you could face complications down the road. Your egg quality and sperm require massive amounts of energy just to mature, fertilise, and divide properly. To create that energy, your body needs a good supply of nutrients like vitamin B12, folate, zinc, iron, vitamin d. But your gut is the foundation, it has to be healthy enough to actually absorb them. If your gut is inflamed, your hormone production, metabolism and regular elimination completely go on a toss.The beautiful part about understanding the root cause is realizing that you have so much power to change the environment within you. With the right mindset, targeted nutrition, and a little supplemental support, you can easily reach your ultimate goal of a vibrant, healthy pregnancy.

Male & Female Infertility 

Pregnancy is actually the final step of a much longer, intricate process. On the male side, producing healthy sperm is a vulnerable 90-day race, the cells require a cool environment 2–3°C below core body temperature and massive cellular energy to fuel it’s speed. Yet, today’s modern lifestyle is characterized by toxic chronic stress, poor sleep, sedentary habits, floods the male body with oxidative stress, causing sperm DNA fragmentation and cellular fatigue. 

On the female side, the body demands an equally abundant nutrient reserve to sustain a regular ovulatory cycle. A  woman loses an average of 30 to 50 mL of blood during every single menstrual cycle, a monthly depletion that rapidly drains critical stores of iron, B12, active folate, and vital proteins. If her lifestyle is fueled by processed, pro-inflammatory foods or unmanaged stress, her gut becomes too inflamed to absorb these crucial nutrients, causing the brain to completely shut down hormone synthesis and ovulatory signalling. Ultimately, whether it is protecting delicate sperm membranes from cellular damage or replenishing a woman’s vital nutrient reserves, optimal fertility cannot be forced with a pill, it must be nourished daily through an intentional, health-first lifestyle

Root Causes Of Infertility

A variety of problems cause or increase your risk of infertility. Here are the top root causes of infertility that you need to be aware of:

1. Excessive use of Plastics 

Plastics contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), such as BPA and phthalates, which can interfere with the body’s natural hormonal signaling. BPA can mimic estrogen, while phthalates can disrupt androgen and testosterone activity. These chemicals can interfere with the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Gonadal axis, which regulates the hormones essential for healthy egg and sperm production. And here’s what I want you to understand,  the concern isn’t about one single plastic exposure. It’s about the repetitive exposure you experience over time. So, if you’re planning to conceive, start reducing avoidable plastic exposure at least 3 months before trying, especially repeated food-contact exposure. So, choose glass or stainless steel for storing your food and water, never heat food in plastic, and minimize packaged or canned foods wherever practical.

2. Sedentary Lifestyle 

Modern life has made us increasingly sedentary. We sit for hours, move less, and whatever we’re eating isn’t being utilized as efficiently by the body. Over time, this can affect our metabolism and contribute to insulin resistance.

And here’s where it starts affecting fertility.

In men, insulin resistance and poor metabolic health can affect sperm motility. In women, it can contribute to PCOS, hormonal imbalance and delayed luteal phases, all of which can interfere with the normal reproductive process.

So when we talk about fertility, physical activity isn’t just about staying fit. Your body needs movement to support healthy metabolism, and healthy metabolism is an important part of reproductive health. According to ASRM guidelines, aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week + strength training twice a week to support metabolic and reproductive health.

3. Chronic Stress & Poor Sleep

Today’s lifestyle is busy. Really busy. We are constantly running from one thing to another, work, relationships, deadlines, traffic, meetings, messages, notifications and somewhere in between all of this, we barely even notice ourselves. We don’t notice our breath, our body, or how stressed we actually are.

And here’s the problem.

When we’re so invested in this busy lifestyle, even the smallest things can trigger us. Getting late for a meeting, traffic, fights in relationships. These may seem like small stressors, but when they keep happening repeatedly, the body can stay in a fight-or-flight state, with cortisol and adrenaline remaining elevated. Your immune system goes on high alert mode, shutting down all the basic processes like digestion, hormonal balance, metabolism, ovulation, sperm count

And when this is combined with poor or inconsistent sleep, it disturbs your circadian rhythm , the internal clock that helps regulate sleep and hormone production, making it even worse. Women should aim for around 9 hours of sleep, while men should aim for around 8 hours, ideally maintaining a consistent sleep–wake schedule. Wake at a consistent time and get morning sunlight soon after waking to help anchor the circadian clock, which regulates sleep, mood and hormone rhythms.

4. Poor Nutrition 

Today’s heavy reliance on junk food, refined sugar, seed oils, and adulterated ingredients acts as a direct dietary assault on reproductive health. Consuming refined sugars triggers rapid blood sugar spikes, forcing the pancreas to overproduce insulin. Over time, this chronic insulin resistance signals the female ovaries to overproduce male hormones (androgens), which physically halts regular egg maturation and blocks ovulation. For men, a landmark study in Human Reproduction (2026) established a direct link between high ultra-processed food (UPF) intake and reduced sperm health, lower conception rates, and slower early embryo development. 

5. Excessive Smoking & Alcohol

Smoking and excessive alcohol consumption are not just lifestyle choices when it comes to reproductive health. Both can increase oxidative stress and are associated with poorer reproductive outcomes, smoking can impair egg quality and ovarian reserve in women and reduce sperm concentration and motility in men, while heavy alcohol use can disrupt reproductive hormones and sperm production. The best practice is to quit smoking and avoid alcohol before trying to conceive; for men, staying completely away for at least 3 months allows a new cycle of sperm production to develop without these exposures.

6. Hormonal contraception: an important conversation

The birth-control pill is another topic that deserves nuance. The pill works by suppressing ovulation, and fertility generally returns after stopping it. However, for some women, the pill may have been prescribed for symptoms such as painful periods, acne or irregular cycles. These symptoms can sometimes be associated with underlying conditions such as PCOS or endometriosis. When contraception is stopped, those symptoms may reappear  not necessarily because the pill caused the condition, but because the underlying issue was still present. This is why reproductive health shouldn’t be reduced to simply controlling symptoms. 

7. Hypothyroidism

This tiny gland has a much bigger role in fertility than people realize. The thyroid produces mainly T4, which is converted into the more active T3 in the body. TSH is the hormone from the brain that tells the thyroid how much thyroid hormone to produce. Together, this thyroid system helps regulate metabolism, energy production and several processes throughout the body,  including reproductive function. So when this system goes haywire, it’s not just your metabolism that gets affected. Thyroid dysfunction can influence nutrient utilization, energy metabolism and hormone signaling, while also interfering with the reproductive axis. In women, hypothyroidism can affect ovulation, menstrual cycles, follicular development and the hormonal environment needed for conception. It has also been associated with conditions such as PCOS and luteal-phase dysfunction. In men, thyroid hormones also interact with the reproductive system and can influence testosterone-related pathways, spermatogenesis and sexual function. 

8. Estrogen Dominance 

Another factor we need to look at is what is commonly called estrogen dominance , when estrogen activity is relatively high compared with progesterone, or when estrogen is not being metabolized and cleared efficiently. When this balance gets disrupted, women can experience symptoms like breast tenderness, mood changes, irritability, heavy or painful periods and other menstrual changes. Estrogen and progesterone need to work in balance throughout the menstrual cycle, and disruption in this balance has also been associated with conditions that can affect fertility. A review published in Cells in 2022 explains how dysregulated estrogen signaling is associated with several gynecological conditions, including abnormal foetal bleeding, pelvic pain and miscarriages

The Bottomline 

We may not be able to control every chemical in our environment, every pollutant we breathe or every stressor life throws at us.

But we can control many of the signals we send our bodies every single day.

What we eat.
How we move.
How we sleep.
How we manage stress.
What we smoke, drink and expose ourselves to.

Fertility shouldn’t become something we think about only when we’re struggling to conceive. Perhaps the better approach is to protect reproductive health long before we need it. Because taking care of your fertility isn’t just about creating a baby someday. It’s about creating a healthier body today.

If you’ve been feeling confused about your health or overwhelmed about where to start, book a Root-Cause Discovery Call with me. We’ll look at the bigger picture, connect the dots, and understand what your body may actually be asking for.