- Unhealthy lifestyle habits that cause poor fertility such as body weight, sleep patterns, exercise, nutrition, stress, heat exposure, and toxin avoidance, all impacting reproductive health.
- Maintaining a healthy weight, establishing regular sleep routines, engaging in physical activity, consuming a balanced diet, managing stress, and avoiding excessive heat and toxins can all enhance fertility outcomes.
- Making positive changes to lifestyle habits can improve fertility and overall well-being, providing individuals and couples with a greater chance of starting or expanding their families.
Let’s take a look at 6 common habits that are negatively impacting fertility and the how you can choose to cultivate healthier choices to improve your fertility and overall well-being.
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Body Weight
Both being overweight and underweight can create hurdles in the journey to conceiving a baby. These conditions disrupt the balance of estrogen levels in the body and directly impact ovulation. For optimal ovulation, maintaining normal estrogen levels is crucial for the body. Excessive weigh gain leads to high levels of estrogen which mimicks effects of birth control and prevents ovulation. On the other hand, being underweight also has its own drawbacks where it becomes difficult for the body to maintain enough estrogen levels for regular ovulation. Maintaining a healthy weight can impact the reproductive health and open doors to fertility and a chance to create your own family.
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Irregular Sleeping Patterns
Irregular sleep patterns and can disrupt hormonal balance compromising fertility. Sleep deprivation also has a profounf impact on production of reproductive hormones and can diminish the quality of both sperm and eggs. To improve fertility chances establishing a sleep routine is important. Create a tranquil sleep environment free from distractions and excessive light can contribute to a restful sleep that can do wonders for your reproductive hormones. It allows the body to rejuventate and maintain hormonal balance necessary for reproductive health.
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Sedentary Lifestyle and Lack of Exercise
Due to the nature of today’s world, majority of people have no time for themselves and are unfortunately leading a sedentary lifestyle. This is causing detrimental effects on fertility. Lack of physical activity can lead to weight gain, hormonal imbalances, and decreased reproductive function. Taking some time off from your day to day tasks and adding regular exercise to the routine will not only help maintain a healthy weight but wil also promote hormonal balance and improve blood circulation to the reproductive organs.
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Poor Nutrition and Unhealthy Diet
Having a regular schedule and eating healthy meals has taken a back seat due to the rigorous daily lifestyles people are leading these days. For convenience and due to lack of time, people find it easier to order in or buy junk food from the nearest fast food eatery. A healthy well-balanced meal contains vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants which improve egg and sperm quality. Avoiding frozen food and ready to eat meals is essential as these contain preservatives and chemicals that disrupt the body’s hormones and lead to poor egg and sperm quality.
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Stress and Emotional Well Being
Chronic stress can disrupt hormonal balance, stress triggers the release of cortisol, which can inhibit the production of reproductive hormones. Stress also leads to unhealthy coping mechanisms such as smoking or excessive alcohol consumption. Engaging in stress management techniques such as meditation, yoga, or counselling can help promote emotional well-being and enhance fertility.
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Exposure to Heat and Toxins
While this may come as a surprise to many, prolonged exposure to high temperatures such as saunas, hot tubs and frequent use of laptops on the lap can negatively affect fertility in men and women. Exposure to certain chemicals and toxins such as pesticides, solvents and heavy metals can also lead to problems with fertility and should be avoided as much as possible.
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