[YOUR HEALTH] Modern technologies help couples have babies

A couple that has been unable to conceive after one year of regular unprotected intercourse is considered infertile. Today, 25 per cent of couples are infertile.

There is a worldwide emotional epidemic of infertility. Even in India which has severe overpopulation, the most common reason for a visit to the doctor is infertility. In Nigeria, infertility, which used to be a small area of gynaecology practice, has now become a huge discipline with several doctors devoting their clinic solely to the practice of infertility.

As we get older, our ability of getting pregnant decreases. Only one per cent of teenagers are infertile, while a large majority of infertile couples are in their 30s. It is well documented that from our teen years when the last thing we wanted was a child, to our mid-30s when we are finally secure enough to start our family, our ability to conceive decreases almost by 25 per cent.

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Research shows that in the past 30 years, infertility has increased and those over 30 have the most problems. If you are in your 30s and have been working to establish yourself in your profession, and are now just casually reading this piece because you are thinking maybe in a few years I might like to start a family, you should realise that there is a 25 per cent chance you will not be able to do so without medical intervention.

Other factors that may make it difficult for you to get pregnant include abnormal organs, immunological factors and other malfunctioning of the body system.

The dramatic increases in infertility over the last 30 years has been blamed on various factors, including the increases in sexually transmitted diseases, environmental pollution (particularly in the oil producing geographical zones), declining sperm counts from absorption of toxic substances and even the increased tension and anxiety of modern life.

Most importantly, infertility is common in humans because the human reproductive system was never that efficient, to begin with.

In all other animals except humans, the desire to have sexual intercourse is timed to correspond exactly to that moment when the female is ovulating or producing eggs that can be fertilised. Take, for instance, a dog or a rabbit. Once the female is ovulating, she seeks out the male and after intercourse, the female is usually pregnant with multiple pregnancies. Humans, however, desire to have sex at any time regardless of whether there is an egg that can be fertilised in the woman. This makes us reproductively more inefficient than other animals.

We know that in all species, there is a very short window — in fact, a matter of days — during each month that the female is fertile and can get pregnant with intercourse. The timing of sex is therefore very important if a specie is to have an efficient and high fertility rate.

In humans, women go through a period of 14 days when the follicle in the ovary develops. This starts from day one of the menstruation until the egg is sufficiently mature and ready for ovulation. Once the egg is released at ovulation, there is another 14-day period that it can be fertilised. If intercourse occurs at the right time, then the embryo grows and implants in the uterus or womb. If intercourse occurs at another time other than the ovulating period, it is very unlikely that the woman will get pregnant.

Animals go through what is described as an “estrus” cycle or “heat;” humans go through a menstrual cycle. Apart from other hormonal variations, one significant difference between humans and animals is that the female sex hormone, oestrogen, which increases just before ovulation in animals, is the trigger factor for their sex drive.

This hormone is responsible for producing eggs. In other words, animals do not desire to have sex unless there is an egg to be fertilised in the female’s womb. In humans, sexual desire is much more complex and is not driven by the female sex hormone oestrogen, but by the male sex hormone testosterone. This is unique in the animal kingdom and it is specially a human phenomenon.

The small amount of testosterone that the female makes is enough to generate a sexual drive in her. It is only few females that recognise the slight increase in testosterone around the ovulation period to enable them deliberately initiate sex at the appropriate time to get pregnant.

From sociological studies, the fact that humans make love facing each other indicates a communication of direct sexual interest and development of love, permanent mating and a family system. On the contrary, throughout the animal kingdom, the female squats in her position of “heat” and the male mounts on top of her, facing her rear end. The animals never get to look at each other and do not need to know each other or get emotionally involved for intercourse to take place.

In other words, in animals, sex is not emotional but procreational. For humans, having sex is about expressing emotions and not just for the purpose of having babies. This makes us less reproductively efficient.

To be continued

- Oladapo Ashiru

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