Fertility shock - women lose over 80% of eggs by 30
New research shows that women's egg reserves decline faster than we thought
The reason us women find it harder to conceive as we get older is because by the time we’re 30, most of us have lost about 88% of our eggs, scientists have said. By the time we celebrate the big 4-0, the average amount left is 3%. So while we might continue to produce eggs in our 30s and 40s, the pool of potential eggs is low.
The decline of our “ovarian reserve” – that’s the potential number of eggs we’re born with – from conception to menopause has been looked at by researchers from the University of St Andrews and Edinburgh University. It’s been found that, on average, us girls are born with 300,000 potential egg cells. And this reserve seems to decline faster than people first thought, reports the Telegraph.
It seems many of us think that because we’re still producing eggs our fertility remains the same, say the researchers. However, this isn’t the case.
The research also revealed that there’s a huge difference between the ovarian reserves of individual women. Some of us have 35,000. Others can have more than 2 million! It’s also worth remembering the speed at which your ovarian reserve declines is different for everyone.
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