A research paper by Harvard’s Medical School and School of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has unveiled that women working 40 hours or more on daily basis may face problem in conceiving.

In the study, the researchers have surveyed 1, 739 nurses for more than four years. These were the women, who were trying to conceive during that time-period. Half of the total participants were aged 33 years old and above; 44% were overweight and another 22% were either smokers or former-smokers.

Around a third of women said that they have been working at least eight hours a day and around 40% have said that they lift heavy loads that up to five times a day. The researchers stated that 16% of women were not able to conceive in the first year of trying and around 5% were not able to get pregnant after two years.

Study’s lead researcher Dr. Audrey Gaskins of the Harvard School of Public Health said, “While we tried to control for many variables that could potentially explain this association – such as menstrual cycle regularity, sleep duration and other potentially harmful lifestyle and work exposures – none of these factors seemed to completely explain these relationships”.

Ohio State University’s Dr. Courtney Lynch said that one of the reasons could be that women were not having sex on regular basis due to hectic work schedules. Couples who have been trying to conceive should try to sexual intercourse twice a week. Also, women should avoid smoking and taking stress and should do regular exercise.