PREPARE FOR PREGNANCY
10 ways to improve your conception chances
IF you’re TTC (trying to conceive), you may think that taking a prenatal, laying off the booze and hitting the sack will do the trick. But, “There is no better time to focus on a healthy lifestyle than when trying to get pregnant,” said Dr. Lynn Westphal, chief medical officer of fertility and family building company Kindbody. While that whole healthy lifestyle thing means maintaining a normal BMI and not smoking or drinking excessively, there’s a lot more to the picture.
In fact, there’s a whole slew of research-backed healthy habits worth embracing if you’re looking to boost your odds of conceiving.
1. See the doc
If you’ve been toying with the idea of freezing your eggs or starting a family, waiting to build up the nerve to schedule a doctor’s appointment to assess your fertility isn’t doing anyone any favors.
“Be proactive,” said Dr. Daniel E. Stein, director of the division of reproductive endocrinology and fertility at Mount Sinai West Hospital in Hell’s Kitchen and a physician at Reproductive Medicine Associates (RMA). “Women planning to delay fertility beyond the early 30s should consult with a board-certified, highly experienced reproductive endocrinologist to determine how to best preserve their fertility.”
At initial consultations, an REI will take a picture of your fertility through blood work, vaginal ultrasounds, semen analysis and more.
2. Time those love sessions
Whether you mark a wall calendar or use an app to track your cycle, plan accordingly.
“The fertile days are the five days before ovulation and the day of ovulation,” said Westphal. After that, you likely won’t conceive.
3. Practice mindfulness
Time to use that meditation app you used for a week on that New Year’s resolutions kick.
“IVF treatment can take both a physical and an emotional toll on the health and wellness of infertile women, and ultimately has the potential to negatively influence their treatment outcome,” said Dara Godfrey, registered dietitian at RMA in Chelsea. “Mindfulness practices have the possibility to improve women’s quality of life and influence pregnancy rates.”
4. Skip the cuppa joe
You know to put down the vino, but caffeinated drinks may also have a detrimental impact on conceiving.
“Research shows that drinking a lot of coffee, tea and caffeinated soft drinks may increase the time it takes to get pregnant,” said Boston’s Erin Kenney, registered dietitian, who specializes in gut health and hormone balance. “It’s recommended that women limit caffeine intake to 200mg per day (about two cups of coffee) if they are pregnant or trying to conceive.”
5 . ... and the soda
According to researchers at Boston University, women who consumed at least one sugar-sweetened beverage per day had nearly a 20 percent lower probability of getting pregnant per cycle, as Dr. Ashley Eskew, a reproductive endocrinologist based in Charlotte, NC, and co-founder of OvulifeMD, a digital education company that helps women trying to conceive, shared.
“Men who consume as little as one sugar-containing soda per day had a 33 percent lower probability of conceiving per cycle,” she said.
For those going the IVF route, it also made a difference. “Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health found that women who drank sugar-sweetened soda had fewer eggs retrieved, lower fertilization rates, and fewer high-quality embryos,” said Eskew.
6. Up your folic acid game
“Research suggests that women taking a prenatal with 800mcg of folic acid have better fertility outcomes compared to those taking the standard 400mcg amount,” said Eskew. “In fact, women supplementing with 800mcg of folic acid have been shown to have higher implantation rates, higher clinical pregnancy rates and a 20 percent higher probability of live birth.”
7. Look for this molecule
Add CoQ10 to your haul. “CoQ10 is a supplement that acts as an antioxidant agent in the mitochondria and plays an important role in the regulation of energy metabolism,” said Dr. Zaher Merhi, an OB-GYN and reproductive endocrinologist and the founder of Rejuvenating Fertility Center. “Additionally, CoQ10 plays a role in the protection of eggs from oxidative stress.
Studies show [it] was associated with an improvement in egg quality in humans and animals.”
8. Say sayonara to tuna
“One study found that a group of infertile men and women had higher blood levels of mercury,” said Kenney. “The higher levels corresponded to increased consumption of seafood.”
To ensure you’re getting your omega-3 fats, opt for salmon, sardines and oysters.
9. Fellas: eat more nuts
“Nuts are packed with lots of nutrition including omega-3s (especially in walnuts) and calcium (in almonds), zinc, vitamin E and selenium which can help protect sperm from free-radical damage, acting as anti-oxidants,” says Godfrey. “Brazil nuts are especially good for men as they are rich in selenium which may help both sperm production and motility.”
Up to three Brazil nuts is plenty, as higher doses can be toxic.
10. Stress less
“When our bodies are stressed, chemical signals are being sent that inhibit fertility,” said Nicole Avena, Ph.D., assistant professor of neuroscience at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and author of “What to Eat When You Want to Get Pregnant” (Citadel). “Think about it from an evolutionary perspective — if we are in a state of stress, would it make sense to have a baby?”