- Going to bed late disrupts the body’s internal clock and causes a hormonal response
Women who want to get pregnant should go to bed no later than 10:45 p.m., a study has found.
Researchers followed 4,000 women of reproductive age over a five-year period to see how bedtimes affected their chances of pregnancy.
The results showed that people who regularly went to bed after 10:45 p.m. were 22 percent more likely to have fertility problems.
It’s well known that getting enough sleep is important for staying fertile, but research shows that it’s not just about the amount of sleep: avoiding late nights is also crucial.
Up to 15 per cent of couples in the UK have problems conceiving, defined as not being able to conceive after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sex.
Women who want to get pregnant should aim to go to bed before 10:45 p.m., new research has found (file photo)
Up to 15 percent of couples in the UK have difficulty conceiving, which is defined as not conceiving after 12 months of regular unprotected sex
In about 30 percent of cases the cause lies with the woman, in 30 percent with the man and in the remainder with both, or the cause is unknown.
Scientists from the Second Xiangya Hospital in Hunan, China, surveyed women between 2015 and 2020 to see how sleep habits affect pregnancy rates in women actively trying to start a family.
They ruled out other factors that could reduce the chance of conception, such as obesity, smoking and heavy alcohol consumption.
The results, published in the scientific journal Frontiers in Endocrinology, showed little variation in fertility rates among women who went to bed until 10:45 p.m.
From that moment on, a woman’s chances of becoming pregnant dropped sharply, by more than a fifth.
Going to bed later disrupts the body’s internal clock and triggers a hormonal response that reduces the chance of sperm fertilizing a woman’s egg, researchers believe.
Researchers believe that going to bed later disrupts the body’s internal clock and sets off a hormonal chain reaction that reduces the chance of a sperm cell fertilizing a woman’s egg.
The team said: ‘Reproduction is intricately controlled by hormonal mechanisms, and any disruption to these can lead to infertility.
‘The fast pace of modern society has led to major changes in people’s lifestyles. More and more people are postponing their bedtime.
“These findings provide valuable information for women of childbearing age.”