Modern and Ayurvedic Concept of Infertility

Infertility or childlessness has been identified as an illness which could be either long term or short term, has plagued humans for many ages. It is not only the disease of modern era, where the blame goes to lifestyle, environment, eating habits, internet usage etc. but its roots are found ages back. Description of infertility is found in our oldest scriptures ‘Vedas’ too. Assisted Reproductive Techniques (ARTs), has helped couples to conceive but a small percentage still scours the globe in search of a cure. With time researches in medicine and science, our understanding about hypothalamus-pituitary axis, endometrium, embryos, implantation, genetics, cryopreservation of gametes, immunology of pregnancy, the outcome of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) cycles has improved significantly, but the failure after ART procedure still appears like a ‘black box’ to the researchers, scientist, clinicians and pharma industry. In this article, we explained aetiology of infertility, which includes maternal, paternal and embryonic factors, and also explained how it can be treated according to modern sciences. Moreover, we have explored the old literature to find that how ‘Ayurveda’ and experts of the ‘Ayurveda’ have addressed the problem, which is existing since ancient times. We found that causes of infertility were explained well in ancient time and we can relate their approach toward management through lifestyle and apply that in modern era to manage the causes of IVF failure. Infertile couple can achieve the goal of conception and carry home healthy baby following ‘Ayurveda’ and ‘ART’ together.