Tick, tick, tock, goes the biological clock (or so they say)

The idea of a ‘biological clock’ was created to describe the feeling of time pressure felt by some as they balance getting older and wanting to have children. Fertility declines with age, and the ‘biological clock’ almost perfectly describes the conflicting pressures we face as we navigate the societal pressures and assumptions around when to have children.

Get a degree, get a good job, advance in my career, find a partner - but do all of this before you’re 35 so you can have children. Oh, great. That's another thing to worry about.

Is the Biological Clock real?

We can all agree that fertility declines with age. Our reproductive systems begin to change as our hormones change with age. Here’s the data:

A female fetus develops all the eggs that she will have while in the uterus (mind blown), meaning females are born with all of the eggs they’ll ever produce. Females start with approximately 2 million eggs in the ovaries, which will decrease to around 25,000 by the age of 37.
The general age of when fertility starts to decline in women is roughly 35 years old.
New sperm are produced in the testes every 74 days, and this will continue until around age 45, at which point both the quality and quantity of sperm produced starts to decline.

Do men have a biological clock?

The biological clock, or rather, what it represents, is not exclusive to female reproductive systems. Fertility declines with age in both men and women, although it does so at different rates. Female fertility begins to decline at age 35, and male fertility will begin to decline at age 45. We don’t often talk about a biological clock for men, for two reasons: first, the decline in fertility happens around a decade earlier for women, making the concept of a ‘clock’ feel more real. Second, there is a societal expectation that most women want to have babies, meaning that time is of the essence. Men do not face as much pressure, and they usually do not face it as early in life. This is not to say that men do not face any pressure – it just isn’t the ‘biological clock’ kind of pressure.

Should I be worried about the Biological Clock?

Whilst no one ever should worry about the biological clock, it is totally normal for it to be weighing on your mind. Whilst female fertility does start to decline at 35, it doesn’t fall off a cliff. Indeed, women aged 40-46 have successfully conceived with the Béa Treatment, and the average age of women conceiving with the Béa Treatment is 37.5. The biological clock is a social construct, not a real thing inside you. If you’re worried about your fertility, that’s completely normal and there are some concrete steps you can take to address those worries. Start with knowledge – evidence-based, factual knowledge can help dispel myths and give you the clarity you need to feel calm. Our resource library can help you with this, you can check it out here. If you’re still worried, know that you have choices – the Béa Treatment could be a great option to help you conceive, staying in tune with your body, and enhancing your natural reproductive system with the gentle helping hand that it needs. Beyond the Béa Treatment, there are other options available to you in fertility clinics, for you to think about as a last resort. Understanding your options, and thinking ahead to what those options may be can help you feel confident and in control.

Will freezing my eggs stop my Biological Clock?

It depends. Egg freezing is not a silver bullet. How effective freezing your eggs will be at preserving your fertility depends mostly on three factors:

The age at which you freeze your eggs
The age at which you thaw those eggs to use them
The number of eggs that are frozen and then successfully thawed for use.

Freezing eggs can help with the biological pressure by preserving the quality of the eggs that are frozen at the age at which they’re frozen (so, if you freeze your eggs at 34, you will essentially be trying to get pregnant with the egg quality of a 34-year-old when you later come to get pregnant – this can certainly be helpful). Freezing your eggs can also help enormously with societal pressure. Just knowing you have your eggs frozen as an option can help you feel more in control, taking the edge off and allowing you to focus on other areas of life for a while longer. Remember, the biological clock isn’t something real going on in your body, it’s a concept we use to describe the very real biological and societal time pressure that relates specifically to having children. Egg freezing can be helpful with both biological and societal pressure, and to that end is a great step forward in helping us manage those ‘biological clocks’.

What do I do if I’m worried about my biological clock?

It’s totally normal to be worried about this, and you’re definitely not alone. A good first step is to do your research: understanding the data can be helpful with putting stress and concern to bed, and there is some brilliant information in the world about declining fertility and what this means for your chances of conceiving as the years go by. If you’re still worried, you can join one of Béa’s free Fertility Coaching sessions. We host these monthly, and our brilliant clinical team is there to answer any questions you have about age, fertility and biological clocks.

We’ll leave you with something a clinical biologist told us: “Biologically, you should have children in your teens and twenties. Emotionally, you should have them in your thirties and forties. But financially, you should have them in your fifties and sixties.”

There really is no right time, and it really is your decision. Whatever feels right, remember that the biological clock is a concept, something that describes time pressure. It’s normal for that to feel scary, and whilst the time pressure feels very real, the ‘biological clock’ inside you is not.