What Is Fertility Health and How Can You Support It?
Fertility health is about your ability to conceive and support a healthy pregnancy. Proper management of fertility health throughout your life—even when you’re not actively “trying”—is the key to having a healthy baby when you’re ready.
Factors That Can Affect Fertility Health
Disproportionate Height and Weight (BMI)
Weight can have a significant effect on hormone levels and reproductive function. Women who are underweight or overweight tend to have poorer fertility than those with a healthy BMI.
Smoking, Drinking, and Drug Use
Regular ingestion of toxins like these can reduce sperm and egg quality and later pose serious threats to the baby. Men should also avoid steroids, as decreased sperm production and infertility are both well-documented among regular users.
Certain Prescription Drugs
Some medications, such as anti-depressants and other psychotropic drugs, may impact fertility in both men and women. Talk to your doctor about whether your medication impacts your fertility and how you can reduce risks without leaving other conditions untreated.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs)
In women, STDs like chlamydia and gonorrhea can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease or fallopian tube infection, sometimes resulting in total infertility. In men, STDs can affect sperm quality and make them unable to swim properly.
Getting Into the Best Shape for Pregnancy
If you’re currently overweight or obese, the first step is to lose the excess weight. Think of it as a 6-month-or-more opportunity to achieve optimal physical and mental health! Work with your doctor(s) to devise a healthy plan that you can readily commit to. You might also consider joining a support group for women with similar weight loss and fertility goals.
Dietary Concerns: Fact or Fiction?
Organic foods are sometimes said to be better for fertility than non-organic foods, but such claims are unsupported. While certain pesticides have been linked to fertility problems, switching to organic food is not necessary; any pesticides remaining on non-organic produce can be removed with thorough washing. All-organic diets have also not been found to boost fertility in any significant way.
Other common concerns include the effects of diet sodas and caffeinated drinks. While caffeine’s effects on fertility are not entirely clear, doctors do recommend limiting intake to under 200 mg a day (1-2 cups of coffee). Women should also be careful with both diet and regular sodas. Studies have linked artificial sweeteners to decreased fertility, but similar studies have also found negative effects with regular soda. Again, doctors recommend limiting (or eliminating) soda intake.
Questions About Fertility Health?
To learn more about how you can optimize your fertility, call 3 Sisters Surrogacy at (877) 976-9483 or send them a quick message.
