There must be an epidemic … within the first 10 weeks of this year, three major South African magazines ran substantial features on fertility.
Worldwide, fertility specialists are saying that about 25% of all women, and a staggering 33% of women over 30 will have difficulty conceiving.
In a country where teen pregnancy is spiraling at an unprecedented rate, it is even harder on the increasing numbers of women receiving the diagnosis of infertility every month.
We all know of grandmothers and aunts who were still happily conceiving babies naturally in their forties and even their fifties, so what’s changed?
Fundamentals of Health
On a very primary level, our fertility is dependant on our general health. Nature’s wisdom always looks to select the strongest, healthiest way for life to continue and when our bodies are overloaded or out of balance, conception becomes more difficult.
Two aspects of everyday life which have changed drastically in the last forty years are the quality of our food, and the number of chemicals we’re exposed to on a daily basis.
We live in a society where we’re bombarded with toxins and synthetic hormones: from food additives and preservatives; to cigarette smoke, drugs and alcohol.
Hermaphroditic fish and reptiles (one part male and one part female) are being identified regularly in rivers that have suffered chemical spills. It makes sense that if chemicals affect animals in such radical ways, they must be affecting human fertility too.
Fast-food Nation
Many of the foods we eat have been stored for so long before making it onto our supermarket shelves that there is very little real nutrition left.
We live in a fast-food nation of pre-packaged foods, and consume a great deal of meat and poultry which have often been raised on a profit-driven diet of synthetic hormones and antibiotics.
If you’re young enough not to be planning a pregnancy soon some of this may seem irrelevant right now, but the reality is that the healthier you are in your teens and early twenties, the better your health and your fertility will be in a decade from now.
If you’re already at the age where you’re preparing for a baby, then all of this may be quite overwhelming: How can we avoid dangerous chemicals when we seem to be living in a veritable sea of them?
As with most of the challenges we face in life, the answer lies in retreating to our inner wisdom: do the foods you’re eating feed you, or just fill you?
Do you really need that cup of coffee or that over-the-counter painkiller, or do you need to get to bed earlier a couple times a week?
You may not be able to change global pollution, but you can choose to make your own home a safer, simpler place by eliminating the number of chemicals you use there.
Creating a fertile lifestyle is about much more than just about preparing for pregnancy: It’s about respecting your body and about making conscious decisions in your life.
In the words of the UN Environmental Sabbath Programme: “We who have lost our senses and our sense, our vision of who we are; we who frantically force and press all things, without rest for body or spirit; hurting our earth and injuring ourselves: we call a halt.”
Sharon Lee Plaskitt is a Complementary Health practitioner of various supportive modalities including CranioSacral Therapy, Reiki, Neuro-Lingusitic Programming and Hypnotherapy. She has a special interest in the development of human potential; and finds great joy in supporting others as they make positive, empowered shifts in the different facets of their lives.
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