A research published by Occupational and Environmental Medicine found that women whose work involves regularly lifting heavy objects could experience a decline in their fertility. The same is true for women who work night shifts or rotating shifts.
CNN reports that there is still much research needed to be done to make sure that the findings published are accurate. The study, done by researchers from Harvard University, involved two groups of women who are undergoing IVF. The researchers examined the quality of the eggs of 313 women who have done a cycle of IVF and the number of eggs of 473 women in a fertility clinic.
The Independent reports that the researchers found that women who had shift work or regularly lifted heavy objects had fewer eggs. Audrey Gaskin, co-author of the research said that the eggs of that particular group of women had "a lower number of good enough quality to progress further."
The researchers cannot give a definite underlying cause of the decline in fertility as they have not assessed other factors that may have affected the women. Factors such as the working hours and testosterone levels were not taken. They did say that one factor could be stress.
Dr. Gaskins suggested that the disruption of the circadian rhythm for women who have rotation shifts at work may have affected the hormone production and menstrual cycle. As for why heavy lifting has resulted to a decline in fertility, Gaskin says it is difficult to pinpoint the exact reason why it happened but suggested that the physical stress from all the heavy lifting may be the reason.
Alastair Sutcliffe, professor of pediatrics at University College London has commented that the study boosts the fact that shift work brings negative impact on one's health. He further suggests that for women who are trying to get pregnant, it is better to stick to a day job.
