Originally published October 24 2005
Fertility treatments are more effective in summer
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Examining fertility treatment cycles, Dr. Simon Wood and a team from the Countess of Chester Hospital in Ellesmere Port have found that summer months are more conducive to successful fertility treatments than winter months, possibly because of the impact of longer daylight hours.
Women who undergo fertility treatment during the summer are twice as likely to become pregnant as when they try in winter, British researchers have found.
Dr Simon Wood and a team from the Countess of Chester Hospital in Ellesmere Port looked at more than 3,000 cycles of fertility treatment that were carried out over a four-year period.
Dr Wood and his team concluded: "The results of this study appear to demonstrate the benefit of increased daylight length on outcomes of IVF cycles.
"Further research is required to confirm these findings and to identify the possible mechanism of action for the effect of extended daylight on reproduction."He suggested that one of the reasons may be evolutionary; it is known that mammals are more likely to conceive during the summer because it means their offspring will be born in the spring, when food is more plentiful, the weather warmer and they have a higher chance of survival.
It is not known precisely how the hormone controls fertility, but melatonin regulates sleeping and waking cycles.
Experts had previously thought that women undergoing fertility treatment were immune to the impact of photoperiodism because the strong drugs they are given to stimulate their ovaries to override Nature.
"These findings are interesting and need more investigation."Previous research has shown that women are also more likely to become pregnant naturally during the summer months and that vitamin D, derived from sunlight, can improve sperm quality.
They found that DNA damage to sperm was significantly higher in samples given during the winter than those given in spring and autumn.
Sperm concentrations were also higher during the samples given in the spring, suggesting that the seasons can also affect the fertility of men as well as women.
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