Infertility is on the increase. Over the past twenty years fertility problems have significantly increased. One in six couples in the UK find it difficult to conceive, and a quarter of all pregnancies end in miscarriage. A study conducted by the University of Surrey showed that couples with a previous history of infertility who made changes to their lifestyle had an 80 percent success rate. That is a huge impact. Changes to their lifestyle included exercise, nutrition, and stress management.
Adopting a sensible exercise regime can positively affect some of the factors you need for healthy fertility:
• Proper Circulation
• A Healthy Fertility Cycle
• Balanced Hormones
• Healthy Eggs
Proper Circulation
Moderate exercise increases blood flow to the reproductive organs which helps to promote their health. Increased blood flow to the ovaries can improve egg quality, and increased blood flow to the uterus can aid implantation.
A Healthy Fertility Cycle
A healthy cycle is one where you ovulate each month and your menstrual cycle lasts anywhere from 21 to 35 days, with the average of 29 days. If your periods are irregular, you skip periods, or you don’t ovulate you should seek medical opinion.
Exercise can help keep your cycle healthy by keeping your body weight within a healthy range. If you are overweight or underweight you are likely to have oestrogen levels which are either too high or too low, as 30% of oestrogen is produced in body fat.
If you are underweight with a BMI under 19, it takes four times longer to conceive than someone with a healthy BMI. If you are overweight with a BMI of 25-39 it will take you two times longer to conceive. By engaging in a sensible exercise routine you can bring your BMI into the healthy range of 19-25.
Chronic high stress can inhibit ovulation and menstruation. Exercise is a great way to lower your stress load and maintain a healthy menstrual cycle. Regular moderate exercise can block the release of excessive cortisol.
Balanced Hormones
Adopting a sensible exercise routine positively impacts on all the hormones associated with a female’s fertility including follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), oestrogen, progesterone, and luteinizing hormone (LH).
FSH stimulates the ovaries to create follicles in which an egg will mature. Moderate exercise can promote the health of the pituitary gland encouraging it to produce healthy levels of FSH.
LH stimulates the release of the egg in a process called ovulation once at least one egg is ready for release. If a sperm meets this egg after its release, fertilization and pregnancy may occur. Again moderate exercise can promote the health of the pituitary gland encouraging it to produce healthy levels of LH.
Oestrogen regulates a woman's reproductive cycle and causes the lining of the womb to thicken in order to nourish a fertilised egg. Again, maintaining a healthy weight keeps your oestrogen levels within a healthy range.
Progesterone production is triggered by LH which stimulates the corpus luteum (the remnant egg sac) in the ovary to produce progesterone. One of the main actions of progesterone is to help support a developing embryo. Exercise helps keeps your stress hormones in balance which is good as the body prioritises stress hormones over progesterone production. If you have chronic high stress you can be short of progesterone.
Healthy Eggs
The health of your eggs affects whether your egg is fertilised and implants successfully. Eggs take around 90 days to develop before ovulation. Oxygen rich blood flow to the ovaries is essential for good egg health. Exercise promotes the blood flow and therefore helps produce healthier eggs. Exercise also promotes healthy eggs by reducing stress which has a negative impact on hormonal balance.
Sensible Exercise Routinesr
Exercise routines that are good at promoting your fertility are moderate rather than intense. Combining weight training with moderate aerobic exercise is a good balance. If you have a high paced lifestyle you could also incorporate stress relieving exercises like qi gong and tai chi.
Excessive exercise can increase your stress hormones which act against your fertility. If you are exercising intensely every day for an hour you can say this is too probably not good for your fertility. You don’t want to feel drained at the end of your workout, you want to stop when you feel slightly fatigued. Poor exercise options are long distance running, spinning classes, or high impact aerobics.
It appears that if you are struggling to get pregnant starting a sensible exercise routine can very well significantly improve your chances.
If you are starting to exercise to improve your fertility, you can employ a
personal trainer with prior experience of working with women trying for a baby. This gives you the best chance of successfully conceiving along with making other changes to your lifestyle.