Ways to Increase Fertility Naturally
If you are looking for ways to improve fertility naturally, you are not alone! Studies show close to 8-12% of women experience difficulty with the ability to conceive in the United States. Many women in these circumstances are provided pharmaceutical treatments and offered expensive and time consuming procedures, but the discussion to improve fertility naturally is often left out of the conversation. These treatments and procedures can lead to frustration as they are not always guaranteed to work. I’m here to tell you that there are simple opportunities we can take throughout the day to make meaningful lifestyle changes to facilitate natural fertility in a relatively cost effective manner. There are ways to make it fun and exciting, and you can involve your spouse or partner in the challenge, too!
Unlock the Secret to Boosting Fertility Naturally: Practical Lifestyle Changes You Need to Know
By addressing activity levels, period health, nutritional components, and physical barriers to fertility, you can help improve your body's opportunity to conceive without medications or other invasive procedures. I will discuss four major categories to evaluate in your own personal fertility journey and show you practical ways to adjust them to help you conceive naturally.
1. Addressing activity levels
Exercise can help to manage symptoms of PCOS and ultimately regulate hormone output. The good news is, it doesn’t necessarily matter if you choose to bike, swim, walk, or lift weights. All types of exercise seem to facilitate the benefit and there wasn't a specific amount of time spent exercising that was superior, so take your pick! Twenty minutes or an hour…either way it is helping! Get your partner involved and make it something fun that you both enjoy doing together! These studies were done over the course of 3-6 months, so exercising to improve fertility naturally will require some time commitment, but the results will help improve other aspects of health, as well, such as weight loss, mood, libido, and mental health. As an added benefit, we also know exercise can help with stress. Stress levels will affect hormone health, as well by causing excess cortisol to be released in the bloodstream. This excess cortisol can lead to painful or heavy periods, or lead to impaired ovulation. It’s important to manage stress by either exercise, mindfulness or meditation training, adjusting your time commitments and making time for yourself.
2. Period Health and Knowledge
Infertility is technically defined as inability to conceive within one year with unprotected sex. If you’re not familiar with which days in your cycle you can get pregnant, it is possible you’re unable to conceive based on timing alone! Sperm can survive up to 3-5 days if they are in a good environment with appropriate pH. The vagina is naturally acidic, but during certain times of the month, cervical mucus creates a safe environment for these sperm to travel. Cervical mucus is a good indicator that it’s a good day to have intercourse because your chances of conception are higher. To check your own mucus, fertile time periods occur when the mucus is a clear and sticky consistency and it is often described as having the same consistency as egg whites. To improve the consistency of your cervical mucus, it’s important to stay hydrated. Make sure you are drinking about ⅔ of your body weight in ounces. For example, if you weigh 150 lbs, you should be drinking 100 ounces per day. You should also be cautious that any medications, including over the counter medications don’t have the side effects of drying out the cervix. A good example of this would be something like Mucinex for productive coughs. Consider using a period tracking app such as the period tracker on apple products, “Natural Cycles”, “pre-mom”, or “clue” to find out when you’re ovulating.
3. Nutritional Component
Our bodies are not designed to take in the amount of sugar that modern day Americans consume. The excess sugar in the bloodstream from eating diets of heavily processed foods result in hormonal imbalances and ultimately lead to menstruation problems and infertility. To improve fertility naturally, consider adjusting your diet by taking little steps to exchange products in your home for healthier alternatives. Consider reducing sugar intake, gluten, dairy and replace with diets high in protein and fat content. This can help your body to have the nutrients it needs to function properly. Consult with a physician or receive lab testing for glucose levels to determine if this is something that should be addressed.
4. Physical Barriers to conception
Depending on your physician's recommendations, you may be asked to receive a uterine or vaginal ultrasound to look for potential physical barriers to conception. Typically, tubal abnormalities are diagnosed via ultrasound, MRI, CT or hysterosalpingogram (x-ray with dye). Depending on what level of tubal blockage you have, there is potential that physical therapy can help to manipulate the tissues to allow the sperm to reach the egg. If the tube is entirely blocked, PT interventions are unsuccessful, but if narrowed or twisted then PT may be helpful.
In addition, there are multiple reasons that women can suffer from tissue restrictions around the uterus and other female organs that reduce blood flow and mechanical space including endometriosis/scar tissue in the pelvic region, myofascial restrictions or pelvic floor dysfunction, ultimately leading to impaired sperm motility and therefore implications with fertility.
Physical therapy treatment can help with all of these factors by using a combination of hands on treatment and exercise interventions to help you have the best results to improve fertility naturally.
It is important to consider male health in the treatment of fertility issues. Consider having your spouse or partner receive sperm count testing to determine the potential that fertility issues may be linked to him.
Conclusion:
Here at Revitalize, we are able to offer comprehensive care by addressing both the physical barriers to conception, as well as addressing the lifestyle factors such as activity, period health, and stress management. If you struggled with fertility in the past, or are interested in addressing this preventatively, Revitalize can provide you with the help!
Contact us today to begin talking with a pelvic floor specialized physical therapist. We are the Milwaukee Area's women's health experts because women's health is all we do. We have helped hundreds of women with their pelvic health issues and want to be able to help you too!
Resources: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20833639/
