Dealing with infertility can be a challenging and emotionally taxing experience. Maintaining a positive mindset and remembering you are not alone in this journey is crucial. While the numerous medical appointments and consultations may sometimes feel overwhelming, it’s important to persevere and not lose hope. In this article, we have collected natural ways to increase fertility and facts that may help you optimize your health and wellness.
Factors Affecting Fertility in 30s
A woman’s fertility typically begins to gracefully evolve in her early 30s, with some acceleration after age 35. Various factors, including hormonal fluctuations, influence this trend. Stress can impact the body negatively and affect fertility, so maintaining a positive outlook is beneficial. Healthy dietary changes and detoxification can significantly contribute to overall health, including reproductive wellness.
Embracing a healthy lifestyle can make a big difference and improve fertility prospects, so let’s explore 8 natural ways to boost fertility after age 30.
Natural Ways to Increase Fertility
1. A Holistic Detox
We are exposed to environmental toxins daily, many of which are endocrine disruptors that interfere with hormone regulation. Harmful chemicals in our system can imitate your hormones and add to the imbalance. Detoxification can stimulate our lymphatic system to flush out toxins, keep our hormones from being blocked, and regulate them.
A holistic detoxification can help improve the function of the liver and balance hormones that affect your fertility. A study showed that estrogen receptors in the liver are critical for maintaining fertility and that dietary amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, control the expression of those receptors.
Although fertility can be affected by many things, one essential way to increase your chances of becoming pregnant is by holistically, physically, mentally and emotionally caring for your health. That’s why holistic detoxification that involves rejuvenation and rebalancing the body, mind, and emotions can help boost fertility after 30s.
2. Healthy Weight
According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), obesity is a contributing factor to fertility issues in around six percent of women who have not been pregnant before.
As obesity can lead to chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, it can also disrupt hormone balance and impact fertility in women and men. Excess and unhealthy weight can lead to abnormal ovulation due to insulin overproduction in women. Moreover, obesity can cause an increase in body temperature and hormonal imbalances in men, affecting sperm count, concentration, and motility.
If obesity is the underlying cause of your fertility challenges, addressing it before pursuing or continuing fertility treatments is essential. To prevent obesity from affecting the sex hormones stored in the body and potentially impairing reproductive function, you can consider joining a weight loss program under expert guidance.
3. Fertility Diet with Healthy Nutrition
Under expert supervision, you can balance hormones and boost fertility with healthy dietary changes.
Increase your intake of fruits and vegetables. Ensure that half of your plate is raw, fresh fruits and vegetables at every meal. Produce such as asparagus and watermelon contain glutathione, which helps to boost egg quality. Kale includes nutrients that are needed for estrogen metabolism.
If you’re not a fan of eating raw kale, juicing can be a great option – just be sure that your juice contains primarily vegetables. Consuming fruits and vegetables in their raw forms is important because many essential nutrients are lost in cooking.
Reconsider dairy. The dairy industry today is hormonally driven, which means the production of dairy has become controlled by chemicals. The extra hormones can disrupt the signals the brain is trying to give the endocrine system, particularly your ovaries. Just be sure to boost your consumption of kale, collard greens, broccoli, and spinach to get your daily dose of calcium.
Consume alkaline foods. Attaining a healthy pH is essential for reproductive health. The ideal balance is to have 70-80% of your diet from alkaline foods. Some of the highest alkaline-forming foods are string beans, dandelion greens, Swiss chard, bananas, and dried fruits such as prunes, figs, dates and raisins.
4. Avoiding Trans Fats
Healthy plant-based fats, such as nuts, avocados, olive oil, and grape seed oil, can help to reduce inflammation in the body. This can promote regular ovulation and general fertility. Studies have even shown that consuming avocados during the IVF cycle increases the success rate by three and half times, as opposed to women who don’t eat good plant-based fats during that period!
5. Reducing Sugar Intake
Processed sugar leads to weight gain and a poor immune system and can raise cortisol levels. This is bad at any stage of life, but it is particularly troubling while trying to conceive. The fat cells in your body produce estrogen, which negatively affects your fertility. If you are dealing with sugar cravings, try having fruits instead of unhealthy sweets and snacks. If you have a sugar addiction, you can break it by detoxing from sugar.
6. Managing Stress
Although the relationship between stress and infertility is not fully understood, there appears to be a connection. A study shows that struggling with fertility can have a significant impact on mental health, potentially leading to stress, anxiety, and depression.
According to fertility experts, prolonged stress can lead to heightened blood pressure and constant activation of the sympathetic nervous system, potentially impacting blood flow to the reproductive organs. Additionally, studies have suggested that stress may contribute to a less favorable ovarian response to IVF treatment, as well as reduced rates of fertilization, implantation, and live births.
There are many ways to reduce stress, and indulging them in your life will help boost fertility and overall health.
7. Regulating Alcohol and Caffeine Intake
Alcohol mimics estrogen in the body, which will upset the balance of ovulation and hormone interaction. It is best to consume less than two alcoholic drinks per week.
Coffee will contribute to dehydration and increase your cortisol levels. Both caffeine and alcohol are diuretics and prevent your mucus membranes from staying moist, which affects the consistency of your cervical fluid.
Instead of coffee and alcohol, drink lots of water and herbal teas such as stinging nettle, red clover and red raspberry. Your urine should be a clear, pale yellow – anything darker indicates dehydration.
8. Adequate Folate and Vitamin B Intake
Folate can significantly improve fertility and plays a vital role in supporting the healthy development of the baby’s brain. When combined with a balanced diet, supplements containing folate (or folic acid) can contribute to achieving and maintaining optimal folate levels in the body.
Vitamin B is crucial to overall health by supporting cell metabolism and forming new cells. Optimal levels of this vitamin can help alleviate the impact of stress on the body, thus improving fertility.
As always, seek direct advice from your doctor regarding any questions or issues you may have regarding your health or the health of others. Remember to stay positive, treat your body with respect, and don’t forget to enjoy the journey!
FAQS ABOUT BOOSTING FERTILITY
What foods boost fertility?
The best foods and nutrients for increasing fertility in women that support a healthy ovulation are alkaline foods, healthy fats, folate, vitamin D, complex carbs and antioxidants.
Can fertility be boosted?
Embracing a healthy lifestyle can make a big difference and improve fertility for both men and women.
Can folic acid boost ovulation?
Which fruit is best for fertility?
Citrus fruits have higher folate amounts that can increase your chances of conceiving.