A new U.S. study shows that women's workload can be a factor in pregnancy. Those who work for more than 40 hours a week and lifts or moves 25-pound loads several times a day, may experience difficulties in getting pregnant.
The study was conducted by observing 1,739 nurses with median age, and with 33 of them trying to get pregnant. An estimate of 16 percent failed to get pregnant for 12 months, and five percent struggled to conceive a baby even after two years.
Women working >40 h/week had a 20% (95% CI 7 to 35%) longer median duration of pregnancy attempt compared to women working 21-40 h/week (p-trend=0.005). Women whose work entailed heavy lifting or moving (ie, 25+ pounds) >15 times/day also had a longer median duration of pregnancy attempt (adjusted TR=1.49; 95% CI 1.20 to 1.85) compared to women who never lifted or moved heavy loads (p-trend=0.002). The association between heavy moving and lifting and duration of pregnancy attempt was more pronounced among overweight or obese women (body mass index, BMI<25: TR=1.17; 95% CI 0.88 to 1.56; BMI≥25: TR=2.03, 95% CI 1.48 to 2.79; p-interaction=0.007).
Lead study author Audrey Gaskins, a researcher at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, sent an e-mail to Reuters saying, "Our results show that heavy work, both in terms of physical strain and long hours, appears to have a detrimental impact on female nurses' ability to get pregnant."
Courtney Lynch, a specialist in the Ohio State University in Columbus, figures that some of the nurses may have just been exhausted from work to have sex.
'If this effect is real, it is likely due to the fact that these women are having less frequent intercourse due to their work demands," said Lynch.
Lynch also suggests that couples should have sex at least twice a week, and women should sustain a healthy and balanced weight, do frequent exercise, and avoid smoking and stress.
