While many aspects of life are not modifiable, lifestyles may be changed. The review focuses primarily on modifiable lifestyles including the age when starting a family, nutrition, weight management, exercise, psychological stress, cigarette smoking, recreational drugs use, medications, alcohol use, caffeine consumption, environmental and occupation exposure, preventative care, clothing choices, hot water, and lubricants. The goal of this review is to demonstrate the potential effects of multiple lifestyles on reproductive health for both men and women. They play a key role in determining reproductive health and can positively or negatively influence fertility. Lifestyle factors can be modified to enhance overall well-being and they are ultimately under one’s own control. Decreasing the number of people affected by infertility has become a top priority for many health organizations, including Healthy People 2020. It has been estimated that 7.4% of women and their husbands in the United States are infertile and that the number of infertile people in the world may be as high as 15%, particularly in industrialized nations. The growing interest and amount of research in this field have made it evident that lifestyle factors have a significant impact on fertility.

The present literature review encompasses multiple lifestyle factors and places infertility in context for the couple by focusing on both males and females it aims to identify the roles that lifestyle factors play in determining reproductive status. Many lifestyle factors such as the age at which to start a family, nutrition, weight, exercise, psychological stress, environmental and occupational exposures, and others can have substantial effects on fertility lifestyle factors such as cigarette smoking, illicit drug use, and alcohol and caffeine consumption can negatively influence fertility while others such as preventative care may be beneficial.

Lifestyle factors are the modifiable habits and ways of life that can greatly influence overall health and well-being, including fertility. Recently, the pivotal role that lifestyle factors play in the development of infertility has generated a considerable amount of interest. Approximately 10 to 15% of couples are impacted by infertility.

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