4 Fertility Habits
Whether you are just thinking about TTC or you’ve been trying for a while (heck, even if you just want to balance your hormones), here are a few things you can incorporate into your daily routine today.
1) CYCLE CHARTING
Start cycle charting, even if all you do initially is note the first day of your period and changes in energy or mood in a free app on your phone. You can then move to basal body temperature monitoring or ovulation predictor tests that are widely available, or you can learn to chart using cervical fluid. (It might not be your favorite topic to discuss, BUT it requires zero devices/tests, it both predicts and confirms ovulation, and your body is just giving you the information for free!)
Pretty soon, you can independently evaluate aspects of your overall hormone health: do you ovulate? How far into your cycle do you ovulate? How long do you have signs of fertility before ovulation? How long after your ovulate does your period start? All of these shed light on your estrogen and progesterone balance, and you don’t have to track a million things each day to get this insight.
2) ANTIOXIDANTS + FIBER
No one likes to hear, “improve your diet.” How do you even start? Two things you can start doing today are prioritizing antioxidants and fiber. Why? If you seek out options with high antioxidant and fiber content, you WILL BE selecting healthier foods because they are fruits, vegetables, legumes, and healthy grains!
Antioxidants help protect your cells (including your eggs) from the everyday wear-and-tear. Other than foods for antioxidants, supplements can be incorporated: CoQ10, NAC, vitamin C, zinc, omega-3 fatty acids.
Fiber helps your body take out the trash… literally. It’s not a glamorous nutrient, but our bodies have to move stuff out. Otherwise, hormones can get reabsorbed to a greater extent from the intestines, re-circulated round and round, and then accumulate. Aim for 28g of fiber each day. If you make this your goal, you WILL BE improving your diet. (There really won’t be any room left for the less healthy options.) Fiber also helps control blood sugar spikes! Fruits, vegetables, beans, steel-cut oats, and of course a fiber supplement can be helpful.
3) STRESS REDUCTION
We are probably all aware that stress is bad for our health, and we’ve all been told to decrease our stress. YeAh, OkAY… but HOW?
You have to MAKE time to do the activities that make you feel like YOU–not the ones that please other people, not the productive ones–the ones that you do because they make you happy. This might mean saying no to something in favor of doing something that’s only for you. (Mine is journaling and doodling.)
Without time like this in your day-to-day, your brain and body might stay in fight-or-flight mode. (Note that your brain is not great at deciphering if the stress is a looming famine, chronic illness, feeling rushed in traffic on the interstate, or pressing send on a spicy email to Karen in HR.) If your brain perceives any type of stress, one of the first things affected is fertility because your brain says, “Whoa, there is too much going on for us to ovulate or get pregnant. We can’t add a baby to the mix now!”
Schedule in a few minutes for you. Just you.
4) SLEEP
Sleep is one of the main ways our brains cope with stress. Think of your brain as a bucket that gets full from daily tasks, emotions, stressors, etc. Sleep empties the bucket. Wind down before bed, turn off your overhead lights, stop your screen time to signal the brain that it’s time for sleep. (Seriously, the brain produces the sleep hormone melatonin when it senses darkness, and it decreases production when it senses light. If you’re scrolling your phone under a fluorescent light at 10pm, you’re probably not going to be able to fall asleep easily.)
Poor quality sleep or inadequate amounts of sleep will increase your brain’s perceived stress, which will impact your fertility.
There you have it! Some things you can start doing TODAY to improve your health: cycle chart, focus on antioxidants and fiber in your diet, and prioritize fun activities and sleep.
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