1: Underlying inflammation

Anti-inflammatory has become a bit of a buzzword in health circles, and there is hardly a café that does not have an ‘anti-inflammatory’ juice on the menu. There are actually many good reasons for this, but first and foremost we must remember that inflammation is not a problem in itself, and that your body constantly has a degree of inflammation. It is simply impossible to avoid it completely, as it is simply a reaction that occurs in the body when it is in the process of repairing damaged tissue and fighting off uninvited guests, such as bad bacteria, viruses and free radicals. The problem occurs when the body cannot keep up, and too much inflammation occurs over a long period of time. Then the inflammation can become chronic, with unpleasant consequences such as metabolic disorders, premature aging and lifestyle diseases. It actually does not take much deviation in your metabolism before it negatively affects your chances of pregnancy. The good news is that an anti-inflammatory lifestyle can also get your body back on track.

2: Stressing about stress in everyday life
It is almost impossible not to experience some form of stress in everyday life. Especially when you are working on a baby project. Stress in itself is not a problem if it is just short-term stress that you do not think about in detail. Stress only becomes truly problematic if it is long-term stress that you also feel guilty about, for example because you ‘know very well’ that it is unhealthy to stress, or you have promised yourself ‘not to stress’. In that case, long-term stress can take control of your body’s resources, so that there is suddenly no longer a green light for a pregnancy. This happens because the body perceives stress as a reaction to a life-threatening danger that must first and foremost be survived. In this context, reproduction is not on the agenda again until this long-term ‘life-threatening danger’ has passed.

3: Lack of nutrients
Unfortunately, it can be difficult to eat foods that have enough nutrient density with the modern diet that most people eat today. But what you put in your mouth has an impact on your body’s ability to produce a sufficient amount of hormones, and your body’s ability to maintain the right balance between the different hormones during your cycle. It also has a major impact on your own egg quality and your husband’s sperm quality.
Nutrition is therefore important in your preparation for an uncomplicated pregnancy. An example you probably know is your body’s access to folate, which is important for fetal development in early pregnancy. Another example is the body’s status in relation to vitamin C, which has an impact on the cohesion of collagen, and has thus also been shown to be a contributing factor in premature water loss.

4: Fluctuating blood sugar
Many people have tried going sugar-free for a few days or weeks to see if it had an effect on various symptoms. Most people know that sugar in general can be bad for your health. When we talk about blood sugar fluctuations, we go a step further than just talking about refined sugar. We are talking about all the many fast carbohydrates that are converted into sugar in our digestion. They have almost the same effect on blood sugar as white sugar. If we snack on fast carbohydrates between meals every day, our body never really gets a break from the ‘cleaning up’ of high blood sugar, which involves insulin, among other things. This can lead to insulin resistance and inflammatory conditions in the body, which in turn can throw the hormones out of balance.
It is therefore a good idea to ‘train’ your blood sugar with good long breaks between each meal, physical activity and generally maintaining your muscle mass, which is important for the sugar in the blood to have a place to ‘find’.

5: Lack of blood circulation to the uterus
You probably don’t think about it much in everyday life, but your lifestyle has a big impact on how much blood circulation to your uterus there is during the course of a day. That’s why I always ask my clients how many hours they sit down daily. This can give a pretty good indication of how good their blood circulation is in the area.
If there is not good blood circulation, the body has difficulty delivering enough oxygen and nutrients to the cells that will both become healthy and good eggs, and to the cells that will receive the egg when it is fertilized. It’s super frustrating to spend a lot of time and energy eating right and taking all the right supplements if the whole thing doesn’t reach the delivery site.

The astute reader will have probably already discovered that these 5 things actually work together. Do you have fluctuating blood sugar and are you stressed a lot? Yes, then there is good breeding ground for inflammatory conditions in the body. At the same time, stress also affects the blood circulation to your uterus. If you are also lacking some important nutrients, then the stage is really set for you to have a much harder time getting pregnant.

Fortunately, these are all things that can be done. Once you have these 5 things under control, your body will quickly get back on track and find the right balance for a healthy pregnancy.

Give it some thought and look at your daily life: Where are your biggest challenges? What is the one thing you can change to improve fertility the fastest?

Love,
Malene
/Fertilista