Lifestyle Changes That Can Help You Get Pregnant
With the rise in infertility around the world, it’s helpful to know the changes you can make to your daily life that may help you to get pregnant. A variety of factors such as weight, diet, supplements, and exercise can impact your fertility. So what can you do to improve your outcomes?
Increase Your Reproductive Hormones in Order to Improve Fertility
One of the primary hormones involved in fertility and reproductive development and regulation is estrogen, which is typically characterized as the female hormone, as it is primarily secreted from the ovary. Production of estrogen also occurs in the adrenal gland as well as fat cells within the body. With weight gain, there can be an excess of estrogen hormone produced. Estrogen indirectly has an inhibitory effect on follicle formation and stimulation.
Weight loss, even 10 to 15 lbs, can often improve or increase cycle regularity and fertility. On the other hand, below normal body weight may lead to too little estrogen which in turn may result in a lack of ovulation and cycle cessation. A healthy weight and a balanced lifestyle are important when attempting to conceive. Patients suffering from anorexia and or bulimia have been able to successfully conceive and maintain a pregnancy with the help of adequate nutrition and appropriate lifestyle habits.
You can calculate your BMI here (https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/english_bmi_calculator/bmi_calculator.html) A BMI between 20 (some studies showed BMI less than 20 can adversely affect IVF outcome) and 24 is considered ideal.
Weight gain or loss not only affects women but can affect men as well. Studies have shown that increased weight may be associated with low sperm counts. Hormonal supplementation with Testosterone or men engaging in competitive bodybuilding can also poorly affect sperm production. A recent study found that overweight men were 11 percent more likely to have a low sperm count and 39 percent more likely to have no sperm in their ejaculate.
The Fertility Diet
A healthy diet is vital to optimizing your success at conceiving. Of recent is the concept of “the fertility diet”. This is a plant-based protein diet enriched with foods high in mono-unsaturated fats and complex carbohydrates such as whole grains. Other studies show that meat-based proteins may be superior. Existing data suggest that high consumption of sugar is associated with lower semen quality and increased infertility among men as well as inflammatory environments to which developing eggs and the endometrial lining are exposed and may lead to poorer fertility outcomes.
Whichever diet you may choose to follow, keep in mind that there is no one food or supplement that will improve fertility outcomes. There are a variety of reasons why an individual may be unable to conceive, and a healthy diet is just one way to maximize your efforts. A healthy diet should include the right balance of all essential nutrients such as proteins, monosaturated fats, and complex carbohydrates. Diets that eliminate one type of nutrient completely from your meals are probably not healthy while trying to get pregnant.
Your fertility doctors at HART Fertility Clinic in North Houston are happy to discuss a diet that is right for you. Folate, at low or inadequate levels, is associated with a lower frequency of ovulation. Low vitamin D level has also been shown to negatively impact embryo quality and fertility treatment success. In most individuals, daily prenatal vitamins can help ensure adequate supplementation of nutrients important in implantation and early fetal development. In addition, the use of metformin and inositol have shown improvements to fertility rates in select groups of patients; treatments may help lower Testosterone levels and improve ovulation.
Contact Our Fertility Specialists
Our goal at HART Fertility Clinic in Kingwood and The Woodlands is to help you optimize your health and best assist you in your journey to conceive. Just as other serious medical conditions like diabetes, hypertension or cardiac disease require treatment before embarking on fertility therapies, so should optimizing your daily habits. Our doctors understand that every patient is unique and that treatments should be adjusted to fit each patient individually, come speak with a fertility specialist to discuss ways to optimize your lifestyle today.
