Stressed About Your Ticking Biological Clock? Don’t Be

Don’t let that ticking biological clock make you lose sleep. Credit: blue2likeyou

Any woman who thinks she may want to have kids in the future stresses about that ticking biological clock. At least I did. It’s basically common knowledge that a woman’s eggs have an expiration date and that the earlier you try to get pregnant, the faster it’ll happen and the less likely you’ll be to have problems getting pregnant.

But that common knowledge may be wrong. Thank goodness.

The fear of this egg expiration has women freezing their eggs for the time they are ready to start a family, and it certainly has women worrying when they probably don’t need to be. This article in The Atlantic is a must-read for any woman who wants to have kiddos. Turns out that one widely cited stat that one in three women ages 35 to 39 won’t be pregnant within a year of trying is based on data from French birth records from 1670 to 1830—as the author says—a time before electricity, antibiotics and fertility treatments.

It’s true that fertility declines as  you age. But modern data actually suggests that it’s not nearly as steep of a cringe-inducing cliff as we’ve been led to believe. A couple other jaw-droppers mentioned by the article? “Older women” can eliminate the age difference by timing sex better during their cycles. (All the more reason to chart!) And? Most fertility problems aren’t the result of age, but instead endometriosis or blocked tubes. Not to mention that half of infertility problems trace back to the male.

So women: Take heart. That ticking biological clock shouldn’t have you losing sleep. Just go read this. Now.

Did you have kids earlier than you might have out of fear you’d be unable to get pregnant at an older age? —Erin