How Can Shilajit Improve Fertility?

People in the West are having fewer and fewer children. The replacement rate required to maintain a societies population size is 2.1 children per woman. It’s obviously difficult to birth 0.1 of a child so the burden is shared across the population. Countries with a lower rate than this will have an older demographic, and a decrease in population size over time.

You might think that this is a good thing? Well, it isn’t.

An aging population brings with it a greater need for health and social care, an increased demand for state pensions and welfare, which are ultimately paid for by the working population aged between 15-64.

Fertility is increasingly becoming an issue for men and women, specifically in the West. There are many reasons for the increase in infertility. Chief among those is, to speak generally, chemicals in our environment, and unhealthy lifestyle choices. For example, the combined oral contraceptive pill (“the pill”), recreational drug use, and overeating processed junk food that contribute toward obesity.

I can almost hear your desperate pleas from here. “Please! Tell me how I can do my part to ensure the future of the West?”

Well, since you asked so nicely… ladies first.

Women

1. Free-Radicals and Oxidative Stress

Oxidative stress is caused by an imbalance between pro-oxidants and antioxidants. This ratio can be altered by increased levels of reactive oxygen species and/or reactive nitrogen species, or a decrease in antioxidant defence mechanisms.

A certain amount of reactive oxygen species is needed for the progression of normal cell functions, provided that every molecule returns to its reduced state. Excessive reactive oxygen species production may overpower our body’s natural antioxidant defence system, creating an environment unsuitable for normal female physiological reactions.

This, in turn, can lead to several reproductive diseases including endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome, and 'unexplained infertility'.

Further to this, certain heavy metals (where have we heard this before?) contribute significantly to the production of reactive oxygen species meaning further oxidative stress, and increased chances of developing reproductive diseases. Most reactive oxygen species are produced when electrons ‘leak’ from the electron transport chain, and the reason they are so reactive (destructive) is because the outer ring of electrons is not ‘full’.

For a visual representation of this, this YouTube video shows what happens when sodium metal (1 electron in its outer ring) is dropped into water…

Molecules are always looking for a full outer ring of electrons (8) which means they are stable. Free radicals are molecules with 1 or 7 electrons, and they will react with almost anything, which is what causes oxidative stress.