Dubai: Couples caught in the throes of a hectic urban lifestyle, who are often too tired and wired, are facing the consequences of the lack of private time for each other.

While there are many lucky ones who seem unaffected by the stressors of life and create conditions for intimacy, sleep-deprived, harried, busy couples who find it difficult to unwind even for a few minutes, or hours and get little sleep are the ones who are bearing the brunt of it.

The result? Less chances of having babies due to an imbalanced system that ends facing the same problem — delayed conception.

One in four Americans said they were too tired to enjoy intimacy frequently in a study by the National Sleep Foundation in 2010. Though there are no studies being done on this subject in the UAE, fertility experts say this is one of the reasons that can contribute to a delayed pregnancy.

One look at the kind of 7-11 lifestyle most couples lead today and it is easy to see why they are caught up in this syndrome.

Aries Avila (not his real name), 30, admits he is among this group.

He and his wife have been trying to conceive for an year now. But his lifestyle creates its own problems. The daily drive to work in Abu Dhabi from his residence in Bur Dubai has affected his ability to unwind and relax and devote time to his private time with his spouse.

“When I reach home at about 8pm, I’m totally drained physically and mentally. I’m demotivated to do anything else except eat and sleep because I need to wake up again the next day at 5am,” the civil engineer told Gulf News.

His wife, Jane, 30, an accountant, has polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and is undergoing treatment for it.

Aries’ medical tests, are all normal, however.

“We are being closely monitored by our doctor,” says Aries.

Most of the time, they say, they are too tired at the end of the day.

Stress at work, says Jane, especially when her company conducts its monthly and year-end audits, has driven her hormones haywire.

“We work during the day and have house chores when we get back from work. What we lack is time (for each other). The body is just too stressed.”

For Yuri, 38, a safety engineer, and his wife, Jasmine, 33, a lack of time and energy are not an issue. But their stressful work comes in the way.

“I was constanty stressed at work,” says Jasmine. “Eventually, I developed PCOS because of my lifestyle and diet,” says this teaching assistant.

The couple have been trying to have a baby for four years now and have been married for seven years.

For Yuri, the detrimental factors are financial insecurity, lack of regular and timely eating habits and a proper diet which are compounded by the lack of self-discipline.

“Most of the time, I’m forced to take home some paperwork so I can meet my deadlines. And then, after work, instead of cooking our own food, we end up ordering takeaways because we’re too tired to cook. So we have no control over the nutritional content of what we are eating,” says Yuri.

Despite these constraints, however, Jasmine did get preganant. Only, they had no knowledge of it till she had a miscarriage. That’s when they knew she had become pregnant. But it was too late.

“The foetus was seven weeks old,” says Jasmine.

That was in 2012.

“The stress of handling the kids at school became too much to cope with apparently, as she had a delicate pregnancy,” Yuri says.

The couple has not had any positive news since.

“I yearn to have a child — even one is enough,” says Jasmine. “I feel being a mother will complete my womanhood.”