by Dr Agilan Arjunan , Fertility Specialist , KL Fertility Centre (Malaysia)

Article Published in Fit For Life , The Star (14th May 2017): http://www.star2.com/health/wellness/2017/05/14/fit-to-be-fertile/

“ The word fitness is synonymous with healthy lifestyle . What about fertility fitness ? ”

Fitness is part of our lifestyle. This concept is widely accepted thanks to our health educational efforts. Fitness and healthy lifestyle is commonly associated with prevention of lifestyle related diseases. Many healthcare campaigns over the years have proven effective in reducing the disease burden in our society. Despite all these efforts , how many of us are aware of fertility fitness ?

What is fertility fitness

Fertility is the state of being fertile . Fertile is the  ability of every men and women to produce offsprings or children. Fitness is a condition of being physically fit and healthy.

Therefore, fertility fitness is a condition where a man and woman is physically fit and healthy to produce children.

Fertility fitness also encompass ‘emotional fitness’ to be ready and able to embrace parenthood.

Why fertility fitness 

It is a well known fact that fertility rate is declining . This fact is true for both men and women. In other words, the rate of male and female infertility is rising in the last 10 years.

All of us might agree that prevention is better than cure. This is true for health conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure. We take care of our food and physical fitness to ‘avoid’ developing those conditions.

However, when it comes to fertility health , we tend to  pay attention to it when we are facing difficulty conceiving (infertility). We prefer to ‘treat’ infertility rather than ‘prevent’ infertility.

You may ask , “If I pay attention to fertility fitness ,can I avoid infertility ?” .

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