Infertility is the term health care providers use for women who are unable to get pregnant, and for men who are unable to impregnate a woman, after at least one year of trying.

In women, the term is used to describe those who are of normal childbearing age, not those who can't get pregnant because they are near or past menopause.

Women who are able to get pregnant but who cannot carry a pregnancy to term (birth) may also be considered infertile.

What causes infertility?

Infertility does not have a single cause because successful pregnancy is a multi-step chain of events.

Simply described, pregnancy includes the following steps: A woman's ovaries must be able to release a viable egg, which then must be able to travel down the fallopian tube. The man must be able to ejaculate, and his sperm must be able to travel to the fallopian tube. The sperm and egg must unite to fertilize the egg. The fertilized egg must attach to the inside of a receptive uterus (or implant) and be nurtured by the body to allow the fetus to develop and grow until it is ready for birth.

Problems with any of these steps can lead to infertility.

The cause of infertility can rest in the woman or the man, or can be from unknown factors or a combination of factors. In some cases, environmental factors can contribute to infertility. In other cases, genetic conditions or other health problems are the main cause of infertility.

Fertility is the ability to have a child. Knowing that you are able to produce offspring is one of the most significant things that a woman or a couple can know. Infertility is not a problem for most couples although in some cases, problems occur which can affect a couple's ability to bear a child. Adequate understanding of fertility can help a couple know what they can do to improve their chances at successfully conceiving a baby, as well as give them information on the kind of help that they can get to help them have a child.

A woman is fertile by the time she hits puberty or early adolescence. Because women are born with all their eggs that they can produce for a lifetime, the ability to have a child decreases as the woman ages, and eventually reaches its lowest point at menopause. However, it is not unusual for menopausal women to have children, although more risks are associated with late pregnancies compared to pregnancies at a younger age.

Once a woman enters her reproductive years her monthly cycle kicks into full gear. During the monthly cycle the ovary releases an egg which, when joined by a sperm, develops into an embryo and into a fetus. Fertilization of the egg by the sperm should be done within 24 hours of the egg‚Äôs releases. If no fertilization takes place beyond that time the egg disintegrates and a new cycle begins to produce another egg.

Fertility in men is the ability to fertilize a woman‚Äôs egg in order to form an embryo. Unlike women who are born with all their egg supply for a lifetime, men continually make sperm even as they age, which is the reason why men in their eighties are still fully capable of having children. Infertility may be a problem for some men, although this is not synonymous to sterility. Procedures like IVF and other methods of assisted reproductive technologies can now make reproduction possible even if the man is infertile.

Fertility is the ability of a man and a woman to bear children through natural means, which is sexual intercourse. It depends on a number of factors, including the age of the woman, the quality of the egg, the quality of the man’s sperm and the delivery of the sperm into the vagina, as well as the presence of a conducive environment for implantation in the woman’s uterus.

For a woman to be fertile she must be able to ovulate or produce eggs every month. A woman is fertile only for about 7 days during each menstrual cycle, and an egg is produced every 14th day of the cycle. This day varies from woman to woman, however. The woman’s egg needs to be fertilized within 24 hours. If not, it gets broken down and reabsorbed by the body, and the next cycle begins. Sperm, on the other hand, are hardier than the egg since they can survive in the woman’s uterus for up to 5 days.

Women reach the peak of their fertility at ages 23 to 23. This starts to decline especially when the woman hits the 30 year mark, which is often the reason why there is a good chance for a successful pregnancy with fewer complications when done before the woman reaches her 30’s and 40’s.

Age does not affect the fertility of men as much as it does women. Men can continue to produce sperm well into their 80’s and 90’s, although cases of erectile dysfunction have been shown to increase with age. There is also a chance that the age of the father can affect the quality of the sperm produced. Older men have been found to produce more sperm with fragmented DNA, which can lead to the formation of offspring with congenital birth defects like Down’s syndrome and autism, as well as schizophrenia and cancer.

Couples who are attempting to get pregnant can make use of their knowledge of the woman’s most fertile days for coitus or fertilization treatments, since chances of conception are highest during these days. Methods to determine if a woman is ovulating include determining the woman’s basal body temperature and the use of ovulation predictor kits. A woman’s basal body temperature often rises by one degree during ovulation and remains so until the end of her period. Ovulation predictor kits or fertility kits are used to sample cervical mucus, saliva, and urine for changes in hormonal and electrolyte content, which are indicators for ovulation.