Learn how to increase your fertility?
There are many things you can change in your life to increase your chances of getting pregnant. Making as many changes as you can to all aspects of your life will have the biggest impact on improving your fertility. It's never about just changing one thing, making lots of little changes has the best results.
Optimise your diet
- Drink no more than two glasses of alcohol a week. Red wine is better for blood. Some people say don't drink any alcohol at all when trying for a baby. I don't agree. Drinking some alcohol a week is good for the body and reduces stress. Of course, when you become pregnant, don't drink any alcohol
- Optimise your diet to include more protein, fish and iron. Eat less gluten and refined sugars
Control your weight
- Don’t diet. Exercise if you need lose body weight. Use the waist-hip ratio to determine if you need to lose weight rather than the BMI score
- You need at least 22% body fat, so don't lose too much weight so to ensure a healthy pregnancy
- It's important to take a good quality prenatal supplement that has a broad range of vitamins and minerals including folic acid every day.
- Don’t have a bath after you ovulate. Have a shower instead as heat around the abdomen can cause an embryo to dislodge from your uterus wall
- Don’t lift anything heavy
- Don’t smoke
- Reduce your use of technology, i.e. cell phones, tablets, laptops as these drain your energy making you weak, which damages your fertility
- Sleep around 10pm and for 7-8 hours. Don't sleep later than 10pm as this weakens you
- Slow down your pace of life. Going too fast uses a lot of energy that could otherwise be used for your fertility
- Wear the right clothes and footwear for the season you are in, for example thermals in winter as this will aid blood flow around your body and therefore the regulation of your fertility hormones
- Have acupuncture treatment regularly
- Take Chinese herbs
- Take vitamin supplements
- Don’t work night shifts as this greatly damages fertility
- Don't work more than 40 hours a week as this too greatly damages fertility
- I advise against taking your basal body temperature every day as this causes stress, which affects your hormones
- Exercise 2-3 times a week, but no more as too much exercise damages fertility
- Practice qi gong or yoga
- Reduce your exposure to air pollution, chemicals, plastics and heavy metals as they all damage fertility
- Be positive and use an affirmation board to visualise your new baby
- Listen to your body. It knows best. Often we are in our minds and not listening to our body, which can mean we don't listen to our body telling us to slow down and take a break
- Practice mindfulness or meditation. This will help reduce anxiety and stress, which greatly impacts on fertility
- Reduce your stress and have fun as this too helps reduce anxiety and stress, thereby improving your fertility
Take a prenatal vitamin
Optimise your lifestyle
Have regular treatment
What to avoid
Don't work long hours
Don't exercise to much
Check your medications
Reduce your use of painkillers and SSRIs (always consult with your doctor first) as they damage fertility
