How can you boost your fertility | Medicover Fertility

Ask a woman who has been desperately trying to get pregnant what fertility is and if it really matters. When a couple keeps trying for months and sometimes even years to get pregnant, they learn to value their health and realise how important it is to be mindful of their lifestyle. What you do, what you eat, the environment you are in, they all make a difference to your health and ability to conceive.

Your fertility is defined by your health to a large extent. If you have a general overall healthy disposition, you are likely to get pregnant more easily than those who are unhealthy. What you put into your mouth will affect your fertility. There are some foods, minerals and vitamins that help to boost the functioning of your reproductive organs and your fertility cycle. It is essential to include these foods in your diet. It is not just what you eat but also your activities that matter, like irregular sleep and lack of exercise, which makes your bodily functions sluggish and promotes a toxin build-up. Unhealthy habits such as smoking, harmful drugs use, alcohol in excess, high heat conditions, spending time in a polluted or toxic environment or areas with chemicals are harmful to your health and detrimental to your fertility. Your body absorbs the toxins, you breathe and through the skin as well. These toxins cause your body harm in multiple ways, including affecting your organs in an adverse manner.

Read More: Bulky Uterus

Let us look at some of the essential nutrients and other things that can help to give your fertility a good boost:

Folic acid

Nutrition is very important for improving fertility, and one of the most important nutrients for pregnancy is folic acid. Folic acid is prescribed to pregnant mothers, especially during the first few months of pregnancy to help the proper development of the fetus and to prevent birth defects. Folic acid helps with the development of the spine and the brain. It has been found that taking folic acid before your pregnancy can actually help you to get pregnant. Folic acid should be taken for a few months leading up to the pregnancy. Folic acid is recommended not just for women, but it helps with male fertility too. Men with poor sperm quality can take folic acid as it helps with the development of the sperm.

Vitamin C

Many people wonder what the big deal about vitamin C. is. This essential vitamin helps the body to build up its immunity against negative factors which could be preventing pregnancy. Vitamin C also helps the body in absorbing other nutrients from the food you eat. If nutrients are not absorbed, they get flushed out of the body. You can have vitamin C in a natural form by eating foods that have rich content, or you can have a supplement. Vitamin C is found in foods such as guava, citrus fruits, amla, bell peppers and various others. Vitamin C helps to keep the hormones in balance. Vitamin C increases immunity in the body, which helps to combat autoimmune diseases and also helps ovulation. Vitamin C is also great for improving sperm health.

Healthy Food

Good healthy foods can boost fertility. Green leafy vegetables, meat, fish, eggs, dairy, cereals and lentils comprise of a balanced diet which can help to improve your fertility and the functioning of your reproductive organs. Different fruits, vegetable and grains have different nutritional value, and therefore, it is essential to eat a well-balanced diet ensuring that you eat some of everything at least 2 or 3 times a week. Oysters, with its high content of zinc, is especially recommended for male fertility and also gives female fertility a good boost. Eating salads helps you to get a good portion of fertility-boosting nutrients.

Water

Everyone knows that the minimum intake of water a person should have in a day is 2 litres. Some folks drink plenty of water, but many people who spend most of their waking hours in a temperature-controlled environment tend to drink less than as much water as they are supposed to. Water helps to flush out toxins and unwanted substance from the body. It also helps with sperm production and movement of the sperm. A healthy intake of water ensures that the cervical mucus remains thinner and more receptive to the male sperm. Water is not just good for your health but help fertility too. Drink as much water as you can. Water in its natural state is the most healthy, drinking excessive tea and coffee do not compensate for your water intake, and neither does juice or any other liquids.

Exercise

Those who are not into exercising, immediately shirk at the thought of having to go to the gym and get into an exercising routine. Even the thought of a morning walk or jogging is repulsive. ‘No time’ is the best excuse. How about taking the stairs instead of the lift? This works for some people and encourages you to get active. Exercising can be some fun activity like aerobics, swimming, tennis, badminton, cycling or some other sports. Try and move about in the office as much as possible. Get up to get a glass of water instead of picking up the phone and calling the pantry boy. If you have to pass some papers on to someone else, go over to their desk and hand it over personally instead of waiting for the office boy to do the job. Small things can make a big difference in your life. Being physically active can make a huge difference in your life and your fertility. When you are sluggish in your movements, your body also tends to react similarly.

Sleep

Many people are not sure whether sleep has any impact on their fertility. The truth is that lack of sleep is really damaging your fertility. This may come as a huge surprise to many people. Without getting sufficient rest, not only your brain and your body suffer, but your fertility also gets the brunt. Leptin is a hormone which is produced when we sleep. This hormone helps in ovulation. Without sufficient sleep, leptin production is hampered and consequently affects ovulation. While you sleep, your body repairs cells and undergoes some self-healing, it also regulates hormones as well among other things.

What you need to Quit

Fertility is not only about what you need to do; it also includes a list of stuff that you need to avoid. Some habits that have become a common part of the modern-day lifestyle may be quite detrimental to your fertility. Some of these are:

  • Smoking tobacco
  • Taking drugs like marijuana, cocaine, heroin, opium etc.
  • Drinking alcohol
  • Caffeine – those who drink coffee have been found to have a reduced fertility. Research has also found that the probability of birth defects increases in coffee
  • drinkers.
  • Fast food also termed as junk food. These foods are so named for a purpose – they lack nutritional value and have a number of unhealthy ingredients as well as chemicals that serve as taste enhancers.
  • Processed food – found to be part of fast foods, now sold as quick home preparations. Semi cooked or ready to cook foods. Most of these contain taste enhancing chemicals.
  • Cold drinks – all drinks that have no nutritional value and are artificially flavoured.

Occasionally and in small quantities, alcohol is okay. Caffeine has been reported to reduce fertility and also lead to possible birth defects; thus, abstinence is preferable. Eating home-cooked meals prepared from scratch are preferable. Eating out of a can is eating processed foods and can have chemical and other preservatives which are not recommended for your fertility. Good home-cooked meals are what will serve you the maximum nutrition.

Infertility

Sometimes after doing everything right, you are still not getting pregnant. What are you supposed to do in this situation? You obviously need to find out where the problem is, what is hindering your fertility. Sometimes it could be due to a medical problem that you are not able to conceive.

Boosting your fertility also means that you have to be medically fit. This means that all your reproductive organs should be in proper working condition to enable you to conceive. What happens if your reproductive organs are not working correctly? Eating the right foods is not going to help. You need to get the problem rectified. Many infertility causing problems do have solutions either with the help of medication or through surgery.

Some of the common medical conditions which hamper fertility are:

Blocked fallopian tubes: Some women have blocked or damaged fallopian tubes from birth, but most of them have a problem that was caused later due to an injury, surgery or infection. Sometimes the blockage is minor and can be removed surgically. Sometimes there is no solution but to have IVF treatment. The fallopian tubes are very delicate structures and can easily get damaged.

Reena was unable to conceive even though she was young and healthy. She was doing everything right and eating the right foods. Fertility tests revealed that she had one partially blocked fallopian tube and one totally blocked tube. This news came as quite a shock and being from a middle-class family they lived under the shadow of social norms. Infertility is not an acceptable condition and leads to emotional abuse and defamation in social circles. The family are looked at with scorn and pity to have an infertile girl. Reena and her husband, with the support of her parents, visited a fertility clinic. The doctor advised IVF treatment, but the treatment was unsuccessful. After 4 failed attempts, they visited Medicover Fertility. Reena was 25, and her husband was 27. Ideally, they were both healthy, and the IVF procedure should have been successful in the first or second attempt to conferred the Fertility consultant at Medicover. They began IVF treatment at Medicover, it was a great success, and Reena got pregnant with monozygotic twins. The couple was very excited when Reena delivered a healthy boy and girl.

Ovulation Disorders:

 This is now becoming rampant among the new generation woman. Many women have a problem with their ovaries, which tend to malfunction. Their menstrual cycle is affected. Some women have irregular periods, while others may not have periods at all. This affects their ovulation as well, and most women who have irregularities with their periods are not ovulating either. Ovulation represents the maturation of the female egg, which is ready to be fertilised by the male sperm. When a woman does not ovulate, there is no way she can get pregnant. This is because there is no mature egg produced by the ovaries for the sperm to fertilise. Ovulation disorders can be caused due to the presence of cysts in the ovaries or due to a hormonal imbalance. Both of these conditions are treatable. Cysts in the ovaries can be removed surgically. Hormonal imbalance can be regulated with the help of medication. This can restore the normal functioning of the ovaries.

Low Sperm Count:

 almost 30% of the men who visit fertility clinics with their female partners to have a baby are suffering from low sperm count. Low sperm count means that your semen does not contain the minimum required number of sperm for conception. Men are more fortunate than women because they are constantly producing new sperm. With an improved lifestyle and a healthy diet, they are able to boost their fertility and improve their sperm count as well as sperm quality. Sperm count and sperm quality can be improved with the help of medication, supplement or eating the right foods. It will take about 3 or 4 months for improvement, but it is worth the wait.

Hormonal Problems:

 Both men and women are equally susceptible to hormonal problems. In men, a hormone disruption can affect the production of the sperm. Either less sperm is produced or no sperm depending on the severity of the hormonal problem. The female reproductive cycle is totally dependent on the hormonal balance and release of the required hormones at the precise times for the next step in the fertility cycle to take place. Irregularity of the female hormones hampers ovulation without which fertility cannot take place.

Autoimmune Diseases:

 Many people suffer from autoimmune diseases. These are conditions which affect the immune system of the body and cause a malfunction in a certain area. diabetes is one such condition which affects fertility. Thyroid gland malfunction interferes with the hormone regulation in the body, and this has an adverse effect on the body. Women with overactive or underactive thyroid have a problem getting pregnant naturally.

Medicover Providing Fertility Treatment

Medicover Fertility Clinic is a saving grace for those couples who are keen to have a baby, but due to some medical condition are not able to. Assisted Reproductive Technique is a popular treatment option for couples who are plagued with infertility. They are left with no choice but to choose medical intervention to start a family. Fertility treatment has helped countless couples with fertility problems to fulfil their desire for having a baby.

Depending on the infertility diagnosis, the doctor may recommend different treatments for getting pregnant.

IUI: The intrauterine insemination is recommended in cases of male infertility caused by low sperm count. This is a relatively simple treatment. The male sperm is treated in the lab before being injected into the uterus of the female partners a few days prior to ovulation. Only the good sperm are selected and inseminated into the uterus, thereby increasing the probability of conception.

IVF: In vitro Fertilisation is used to treat cases of female infertility. The most common causes of female infertility are due to blocked fallopian tubes, ovulation disorders and hormonal problems. To find a way around these problems, doctors extract the mature eggs straight from the ovaries. The eggs are then fertilised in the lab with the male sperm, and the embryo is then placed in the uterus to develop naturally.

ICSI: Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection is a fertilization technique. This is a relatively newer fertility treatment technique used for cases of severe male infertility. The usual lab fertilisation technique involves placing the egg in a glass petri dish with specially selected 10,000 healthy and active sperm. One of the sperm should be able to penetrate and fertilise the egg. Sometimes if the male sperm have poor motility or poor sperm morphology, they may not be able to fertilise the egg. To be away from this problem, the ICSI technique was introduced. The ICSI technique is a procedure in which one good sperm is injected into the egg. This process has increased the fertilisation rate and enabled many men with poor sperm quality to have a biological child.

These fertility treatment options have made it possible for women with medical conditions of infertility to get pregnant successfully. Women who have been declared infertile by doctors can dream of fulfilling their hearts longing to have a baby. Medicover offers high-quality fertility treatment using the latest technology procedures.

Frequently Asked Questions

I Have A Low Ovarian Reserve. How Can I Increase The Number Of My Eggs?

A woman is born with her store of eggs for a lifetime. There is no way to increase the number of eggs.

Can I Improve The Receptivity Of My Uterus?

Yes, a good diet with exercise to boost your blood flow will definitely have a positive impact on the receptivity of your uterus.

Will A Good Diet Improve My Chances Of IVF Success?

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle makes your reproductive organs function better and does improve your chances of a successful IVF implantation.