Planning For A Future Pregnancy? Take Good Care Of Your Reproductive Health

If you and your spouse plan to have a child soon, you may take steps to eat better during the week. Although eating the right types of food can help protect your body from disease, obesity, and other health-related conditions, it may not be enough to improve your fertility. If you don't get enough sleep or take better care of your reproductive system, you may inadvertently sabotage your ability to get pregnant. Here's how sleep affects your ability to conceive and how you can make both issues better.

How Important Is Sleep For Your Fertility?

You need the proper amount of sleep to keep the major organs in your body healthy. Sleep also allows the cells, hormones, and organs in your reproductive system to rebuild themselves during the night. However, a lack of sleep may potentially affect the hormones that trigger ovulation, or when your ovaries release an egg for fertilization.

Ovulation normally happens a couple of weeks before your next menstruation. In most women, ovulation occurs around the 14th of every month. If your periods are normal or regular, you might not have any problems ovulating on time. But if you don't get enough sleep at night, your periods may become irregular. The hormones that release your eggs may not know when to do so. You may have problems conceiving or getting pregnant. 

It's important to maintain good sleep habits, such as going to bed at the same time each night. You also want to avoid drinking coffee and other things that keep you up at night. If you find that you can't sleep throughout the night properly, see an OB/GYN.

How Do You Improve Your Fertility Health?

An OB/GYN can check your hormone levels to see if they're low. A doctor may also examine your ovaries to see if they have any issues that prevent you from ovulating properly, such as cysts or infections. Ovarian cysts and infections can interfere with your hormone production over time. If a doctor does diagnose you with a cyst or an infection, they can take steps to treat it. 

If an OB/GYN doesn't find any of these issues above during your exam, they may offer tips or treatments to improve your ability to sleep at night. Some physicians prescribe sleep aids to their patients. Other doctors may ask you to change your eating and exercise habits to improve your sleep and reproductive health. Exercises like weight training may be too strenuous for the muscles and tissues in your pelvis. 

If you have any concerns about improving your ability to conceive, contact an OB/GYN today, or click here to continue reading more about this topic.