Infertility and Caffeine

Infertility (or subfertility as I've been taught to term it) is an area to which I am particularly drawn in my reflexology practice. The interest became very personal with the difficulties my grown children had in beginning families of their own. My experiences and personal research give me great hope that God may use me along with the giftings which He has given and the skills He has allowed me to acquire, to help couples overcome this challenge through reflexology. What a sacred privilege!

Along my journey of discovery on this topic and the health & wellness issues accompanying it, the premise that caffeine my have a very dramatic affect on fertility presents itself often. Once again this morning while working with a client facing this challenge, God's infinite leading prompted me to ask about her and her husband's caffeine consumption.

Doing a bit of research looking for statistics on the topic, this information from the website Helping Conception came to my attention.

Starting your day off with a cup of joe may help you wake up, but it can put your fertility to sleep. In clinical studies on women, drinking coffee was found to decrease their ability to conceive within 12 months. The more coffee the women drank, the more their fertility rate went down. While women who drank one cup of coffee a day had a 55% increased chance of infertility, women who drank three or more cups of coffee a day were 176% less likely to be able to conceive within a 12-month period.

While this comment mentions women only, similar statistics may be found on the connection between men's fertility and caffeine. It has been suggested that caffeine may give a very quick surge to motility of the sperm. The downside to that is at has also been studied and suggested that the surge is very short lived and then the motility may almost stop.

For those who may be challenged with subfertility issues, whether you or someone you know and love, this may be a very simple but effective key to becoming pregnant.

A small note here: remember that caffeine may be in coffee, tea, colas and other soft drinks as well as chocolate.

Coffee vs Tea

Starbucks isn't my obsession, but I do enjoy a great cup of Joe. Taking in the aroma as it brews, and cradling that warm cup in my hand while savoring that first sip . . . . and my morning is off to its grand start.

Recently, I've been considering the health benefits of some tea varieties. . . . all those anti-oxidants, and I've even seen some info on tea's aid in weight loss. My current caffeine laden jolt of choice certainly offers none of those. What's more, I think often to a very enlightening scenario in my kitchen a few years back. Allow me to share.

Those programmable coffee makers . . . . you know the ones, and there's a good chance if you drink the dark liquid you own one as well. We loved the great benefit of the aroma wafting through the house each morning as we began to awaken to the new day ahead. . . . a wonderful experience until the morning I found coffee all over the counter, the cabinets and the floor. It seems I had not placed the carafe perfectly in its little home base. The eye-opening part that morning was not the coffee but all the finish it had stripped from the cabinet doors. It made me think twice wondering exactly what the substance was doing to the inside of my body, but I certainly didn't give up my morning "fix."

Today I took a step in a new direction. While I have plenty of teas from the grocery store that I enjoy lots of other times of the day, today I ordered some of those very special loose leaf types -- white and oolongs. The whites promise to be rich in anti-oxidants, and the oolong was represented as flowery and sweet, stimulating metabolic function contributing to weight management and a well balanced diet. I'm looking forward to this new adventure in taste (and health).

But will I be able to resist that morning urge? I'll be sure to share.