© iStockphotoFemale runner. Are you a female athlete -- or just someone who likes challenging workouts -- who also wants to get pregnant?
Are you a female athlete -- or just someone who likes challenging workouts -- who also wants to get pregnant? It may make sense to ease off a bit as you try to get pregnant. New research from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) shows that the body may not have enough energy to support both hard workouts and getting pregnant.
Roughly seven per cent of all Norwegian women are believed to have infertility problems, which means that they are unable to become pregnant during the first year of trying -- even if they might later become pregnant.
Infertility can have many causes, both medical and lifestyle-related. Known risk factors include smoking, stress, and alcohol. Being extremely under- or overweight can also play a role.
It is known, however, that elite sports women have more fertility problems than other women. But does extreme physical activity play a role in fertility among other women as well? NTNU researchers examined precisely this question in a study involving nearly 3,000 women. They found that overly frequent and hard physical exercise appears to reduce a young woman's fertility. But the decrease in fertility probably lasts only as long as the hard training.
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