Long hours are making it harder for women to get pregnant

A recent study found that women who work full-time or carry heavy loads for a living may have delayed or hard pregnancies.

For this study, researchers followed 1,739 nurses who were explicitly trying to get pregnant, estimating that approximately 16 percent of them did not achieve this simple goal within a 12 month period.

For four years, women reported the details of their work schedule and labor – think of standing on your feet for nearly eight hours and frequently lifting objects that weigh at least 25 pounds – as well as how long it took them to get pregnant. Aside from the hours spent working, moving or lifting at least 25-pound loads a day can also delay conception by 50 percent.

“Our outcomes present that heavy work, each when it comes to bodily pressure and lengthy hours, seems to have a detrimental influence on feminine nurses’ capability to get pregnant”, lead research writer Audrey Gaskins, a researcher at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, stated by e mail.

Usually, healthy people can conceive in maximum six months, unless partners are old or have fertility issues due to medication, smoking, substance abuse, or medical procedures.

During the new study, the researchers analyzed data of women who participated in a nationwide survey of nurses between 2010 and 2014. It is possible that women who struggle to get pregnant happen to choose to work longer hours, or even that elements specific to certain work environments can cause pregnancy to become less likely.

From among the 1739 participants, those who worked more than 40 hours per week exhibited 20 percent longer median duration of pregnancy attempt than those who worked from 21 to 40 hours.

The majority of the women worked exclusively days or nights, though 16 pe rcent of them had rotating shifts at different times.

Additionally, if women were overweight or obese and also lifted heavy loads their risk of infertility was even higher.

Researchers have uncovered that there are many situations that can diminish the ability of hopeful women in becoming pregnant, and their work environment is one of the crucial factors.

However, the results of the research was impugned by Courtney Lynch, a reproductive health expert at the Ohio State University.

Lynch advised that for couples who would want to conceive faster, sexual intercourse should be performed at least twice in a week, and not only during weekends.