The Sunday Telegraph

One hour extra sleep every night could aid conception

- By Matthew Watts

WOMEN who are struggling to start a family may boost their chances of pregnancy by sleeping an extra hour a night, according to a new study.

Researcher­s at the University of Southampto­n compared the sleep patterns of 88 women, some with fertility problems and others without over the course of a month.

They found those with recurrent fertility problems slept on average for an hour less than their healthy fertile counterpar­ts.

The study, published in the journal Acta Obstetrici­a et Gynecologi­ca Scandinavi­ca, showed women with recurrent implantati­on failure – three failed cycles of in vitro fertilisat­ion with good quality embryos – slept on average for seven hours and 35 minutes.

This was 53 minutes less than the comparison group, which consisted of women without fertility problems who had at least one child conceived without reproducti­ve treatment and within a year of trying.

Meanwhile, women with recurrent miscarriag­e – which is defined as three or more unexplaine­d pregnancy losses before 24 completed weeks – slept for 36 minutes less than the control group.

All patients were recruited when attending gynaecolog­y outpatient clinics but none were undergoing fertility treatment at the time, making it the first time a study has compared sleep activity among women with fertility problems outside of an IVF treatment setting, or with a group of fertile women.

“It is known that sleep is a key feature of the human body clock but the relationsh­ip between sleep and fertility is, surprising­ly, largely unknown,” said Ying Cheong, a professor of reproducti­ve medicine at the University of Southampto­n and senior author of the study.

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