Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is the most common hormonal disorder in women of reproductive age, affecting approximately 8% to 13% of all women worldwide. For some women, PCOS does not simply impact physical health and metabolism—it profoundly disrupts the reproductive systems and makes motherhood much more complicated. Often, the question that arises on this path to motherhood is whether women with PCOS ought to pursue In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) earlier in life.

This article delves extensively into this issue and provides an in-depth appreciation of fertility windows for women with PCOS, based on input from top specialists, current research, and everyday clinical experience.

PCOS is an endocrine syndrome involving a collection of hormonal dysbalances. Many women with PCOS have hypersecretion of luteinising hormone (LH), hyposecretion of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), hyposecretion of estrogen, and hypersecretion of male hormones (androgens). These hormonal alterations cause ovulatory disturbances, and many women suffer from irregular or no menstrual cycle, and many also develop ovarian cysts.

The outcome? Most women with PCOS do not ovulate or ovulate very infrequently, greatly decreasing their ability to conceive naturally. In spite of this, however, most women with PCOS are able to become pregnant—though it tends to take longer and possibly even need medical intervention.

When Should Women with PCOS Seek Fertility Treatments?

Fertility experts generally recommend that women under 35 seek help if they haven’t conceived after 12 months of trying. For women over 35, the timeline shortens to six months. However, for women with PCOS, irregular ovulation makes this timeline less reliable. Waiting a year may not be ideal if ovulation isn’t occurring regularly.

As per Dr. Rita Bakshi, lead gynecologist and fertility specialist, "If a woman with PCOS experiences irregular or missing ovulation, it's better to see a fertility specialist earlier. Time becomes a very important factor, particularly when age-related decline in fertility takes hold."

Before going straight to IVF, the treatment approach for women with PCOS also starts on the conservative side. The initial step is typically a change in lifestyle like:

Maintaining a healthy weight: Weight loss can help regulate hormones and improve ovulation.

Exercise: Regular physical activity enhances insulin sensitivity and boosts metabolic health.

Balanced diet: A diet low in refined sugars and high in fiber can help manage insulin levels.

If lifestyle modifications alone fail to restore ovulation, medications are added. Letrozole and Clomiphene Citrate are often prescribed to induce ovulation. In the case of insulin resistance, Metformin can be prescribed to normalize menstrual cycles.

If drugs and ovulation stimulation treatments don't work, physicians can move on to gonadotropin therapy, in which hormone shots are used to stimulate the ovaries. Still, not all women will be successful with these treatments. Those who do not ovulate following these treatments—or those with other fertility issues such as blocked fallopian tubes, endometriosis, or male factor infertility—will find IVF the best next option.

"IVF is a robust option, particularly when time is not on your side," states Dr. Bakshi. "Women over 35 shouldn't hesitate if initial treatments haven't been successful. Fertility decreases with age, and early IVF can enhance success rates."

Why Consider IVF Earlier?

For women with PCOS, IVF isn't necessarily the initial treatment of choice—but it shouldn't be the last resort either. Although it is a rigorous and expensive process, IVF can circumvent many of the ovulatory issues that PCOS presents. It provides direct control over the process of ovulation, egg retrieval, and fertilization—giving a greater chance of success in complicated cases.

Early IVF consideration is especially applicable when:

• The woman is over the age of 35 and hasn't become pregnant with initial treatment.
• Ovulation-inducing drugs have been unsuccessful.
• There are other causes of infertility involved.
• There's a wish to reduce the stress and emotional impact of repeated failed attempts.

Every woman is different, and one-size-fits-all timelines won't work for everyone. Referral to a fertility specialist knowledgeable about PCOS is important. The specialist will take a medical history, perform hormonal testing, and recommend an individualized treatment regimen that can include IVF earlier if medically indicated.

"There is no one-size-fits-all solution," stresses Dr. Bakshi. "But in women with PCOS, delaying too long can limit choices. An intervention at the right time can be the difference-maker."

Dr. Rita Bakshi is a Senior gynaecologist and Co-founder at RISAA IVF in India

Babies as young as one year old can form memories, according to the results of a brain-scanning study published in the journal Science. The findings suggest that infantile amnesia, the inability to remember the first few years of life, is probably caused by difficulties in recalling memories rather than creating ones. This is the first time that scientists observed memory creation by observing the babies' hippocampus in real time.

How Did The Study Work, And What Did It Find?

To observe this, the researchers used a specially adapted brain scan for infants during a single session. It allowed them to watch how babies’ brains responded while they were awake and looking at images of faces and objects. Parents remained close to their babies, which helped keep them calm and alert.

For the experiment, the researchers observed 26 infants aged four to 25 months. It was found that if a baby’s hippocampus was more active the first time they saw a particular image, they would look at the same image for longer when it reappeared a short time later, next to a new one. This suggested suggesting they recognised it. "Our results suggest that babies’ brains have the capacity for forming memories – but how long-lasting these memories are is still an open question,” said Tristan Yates, a postdoctoral research scientist in the department of psychology at Columbia University and lead author of the study.

Episodic Memory Begins Developing Earlier Than Expected

The findings suggest that episodic memory – the kind of memory that helps us remember specific events and the context in which they took place – begins to develop earlier than scientists previously believed.

Until recently, it was widely believed that this type of memory didn’t begin to form until well after a baby’s first birthday, typically around 18 to 24 months. Although the findings from the Science study were strongest in infants older than 12 months, the results were observed in much younger babies as well.

According to Cristina Maria Alberini, professor of neural science at New York University, the period in infancy when the hippocampus is developing its ability to form and store memories may be “critical”. This window could be important not only for memory but also has “great implications for mental health and memory or cognitive disorders”, she added. Memories formed in early childhood do not typically last very long, it is believed, which might explain why we can’t remember them later in life. In an ongoing study at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Germany, 20-month-old toddlers were able to remember which toy was in which room for up to six months, while younger children retained the memory for only about one month.

How Early Do We Start Forming Memories?

Humans’ near-universal inability to recall personal experiences from before the age of about three is a phenomenon known as “infantile amnesia”. As of now, scintists believed that it was because babies'brains were immature and weren't capable of stories any form of memory. But the Science study has shown that babies do indeed form memories. The mystery is why those memories become inaccessible as we grow older.

When news of wildfires spreads, the first things people worry about is how it will affect their health. Your respiratory health may take a hit, but so will your mental health. A new study published in JAMA Network Open April 2025 has brought up the chances of increased mental health issues from wildfire smoke.

This study found that our lungs are not the only ones that are affected by the smoke, our mind is also in the mix. The wildfire smoke had an unexpected effect on people. The research found a clear connection between smoke and people who have depression, anxiety or mood swings. This means that when there are wildfires, we need to think not only about the physical dangers but also about how the smoke can impact how people feel and think.

Why Does Smoke Affect Our Mental Health?

The study explains that wildfire smoke does more than just make it hard to breathe. The research suggests that the smoke itself might directly make mental health conditions like feeling down, worried, or having mood swings worse. It's not just the stress of the fire itself that causes these problems; there might be something in the smoke that affects our brains and emotions. This is an important finding because it means we need to understand all the ways that wildfire smoke can harm our health, including our mental health.

The study mentioned PM2.5 matter which is a mixture of solid and liquid particles suspended in the air and is explicitly mentioned as a key component of wildfire smoke pollution. A study published in BMC Public Health 2022 notes that there are many physical health harms of PM2.5 and suggests a growing recognition of its link to mental well-being.

To figure this out, the scientists looked closely at the number of tiny bits of pollution in the air caused by wildfires in California during a really bad fire season in 2020. This was when there were a lot of big fires that lasted for a long time. The researchers then took this information about how much smoke was in the air each day and compared it to how many people went to the emergency room for mental health problems on those same days. By looking at these two sets of information together, they could see if there was a link between bad smoke days and more mental health emergencies.

Rise In Mental Health Emergencies

Researchers found that when the smoke from wildfires was really bad, more people went to the hospital emergency room because of mental health issues. On days with the most smoke in the air, there was a noticeable increase in the number of people needing urgent help for things like anxiety, depression, and other mood problems. This shows that the poor air quality caused by wildfire smoke can be a trigger for serious mental health difficulties, making people feel so unwell that they need to seek immediate medical attention. It highlights the immediate impact that wildfire smoke can have on mental well-being.

Even a small increase in the amount of wildfire smoke particles in the air made it more likely for people to have mental health issues that were serious enough to go to the ER. For every tiny bit more smoke in the air, they saw a small but significant rise in the number of people seeking help for things like general mental health problems, like depression, mood disorders, and anxiety. This helps us understand just how much even a little bit of wildfire smoke can affect our mental well-being.

Some groups of people were more likely to have mental health problems because of the wildfire smoke. Women had a higher chance than men, and children were even more affected. As wildfires become more common and worse because of climate change, making sure everyone has fair access to the support they need is crucial.

Sunscreens are really important for the health and well-being of our skin. Even if you can tolerate extreme heat and do not need extra protection for sunburn, your skin needs a layer of protection from the sun.

It is normal to forget sunscreen every now and then, but as we learn the detrimental effects of UV rays on our body, the prospect of not applying sunscreen is not good. Here is where the new sunscreen supplements come in, many people are opting for these supplements to protect them from the harsh sun rays but are they as effective as sunscreen? The appeal of these supplements are that they are much more hassle free and less time consuming.

What Are These Sunscreen Pills?

Experts explain that oral sunscreen pills usually contain a mix of vitamins, minerals, colorful compounds called carotenoids, and plant-based substances known as polyphenols. Many of these pills include an extract from a fern plant called Polypodium leucotomos (P. leucotomos). Besides this extract, you might also find ingredients like nicotinamide (a type of vitamin B3 that may help fix UV-related damage), astaxanthin (found in algae and thought to fight harmful molecules), and lycopene (which might help your skin's natural defense against the sun).

Do They Work?

There haven’t been many studies done on the matter; however, experts suggest that people should not substitute sunscreen for these tablets. In 2015, US Food & Drug Association (FDA) issued a formal statement on the matter, stating there are no pills or tablets that can replace sunscreen yet.

One of the things in them, the extract from Polypodium leucotomos (PLE), has been looked at more than the others. It might help your skin fight damage from the sun in a way that regular sunscreen doesn't. One small study published in the Journal of Clinical and Aesthetic Dermatology showed that people taking PLE had fewer sunburns. However, most of the studies have been small or done on animals, not people. Experts say we need more research to know how much these pills really protect you. What we do know is that these pills alone aren't enough to keep you safe from the sun.

Things to Think About Before Taking Them

The most worrying thing about sunscreen pills is that they might make people think they don't need to use regular sunscreen or take other steps to avoid too much sun exposure. To avoid this misunderstanding, many doctors don't even like to call these pills "oral sunscreen." If you do decide to try a supplement, it's still really important to use your regular sunscreen lotion. Experts recommend using a sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30. These pills should always be used together with traditional sunscreen, not instead of it.

It's a good idea to talk to a skin doctor before trying a sunscreen pill to see if you might be sensitive to any of the ingredients. While these supplements are generally safe for most people, those who are pregnant or breastfeeding, allergic to ferns, or taking certain medications (especially ones that affect the immune system) might not be good candidates. Also, because the FDA doesn't approve these pills, there's no guarantee that they actually work, are safe, or even contain the ingredients listed on the label. Experts strongly emphasize that you should always use regular sunscreen, no matter what supplements you are taking.