Guidelines To Enhance Your Chances of Pregnancy
You never know if this will be the month when a pregnancy test shows positive, making the process of trying to conceive one huge waiting game. Fortunately, there are a few strategies you can do to increase your chances of getting pregnant. You can monitor your cycle and use every baby-making method in the book, but sometimes what you don’t do might be just as crucial as what you do.
Here is a breakdown of things to stay away from while trying to get pregnant.
Cut Down On Caffeine
You don’t have to stop drinking coffee in the morning. However, you should cut back if your daily caffeine intake exceeds 200 milligrams or one to two eight-ounce cups. In fact, one study found that women who consumed more than the equivalent of one cup of coffee per day were half as likely to become pregnant, per cycle, as women who drank less. Heavy caffeine consumption has been linked to fertility issues.
In addition, coffee can dehydrate you, interfere with your capacity to absorb iron, and, in large levels, raise the chance of miscarriage and preterm birth, so it’s worth cutting down on your intake.
Excessive Alcohol Use
There is a need to avoid your friends’ nighttime pub crawl while you’re trying to conceive, or at the very least limit yourself to sparkling water. That’s because excessive drinking (defined as more than two drinks per day) has been related to infertility issues such as irregular periods, failure to ovulate, and abnormal estrogen and progesterone levels. Furthermore, it can be difficult to obtain precise temperature readings if you’re recording your baseline body temperature.
The other factor that may make you wish to avoid drinking alcohol? Since drinking while pregnant increases the risk of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders for the unborn child and it can take up to two weeks after conception to become pregnant, it is generally discouraged. Since there is evidence that even moderate alcohol consumption (five drinks per week) can affect sperm quality, you might advise your partner to cut back on his consumption as well.
Role Of Weight
Are you concerned that you may be severely overweight or underweight? Use this tool to determine your body mass index (BMI) right away.
If your BMI is too low (18.5 or less), too high (over 30), or both, you may experience irregular or skipped periods. If your BMI is too low, you may even stop ovulating altogether. Obesity can raise a woman’s risk of having a c-section or developing pregnancy issues including gestational diabetes, hypertension, or birth abnormalities. Therefore, it’s crucial to maintain a healthy weight when attempting to get pregnant. If you fit either of these descriptions, discuss reaching a healthy weight with your doctor. You should exercise, consume a healthy diet rich in nutrients, and drink lots of water. If done healthfully, even a slight weight increase or decrease might frequently be enough to prepare your body for conception.
Skipping Vegetables
Although it’s debatable if specific meals actually increase fertility, experts do agree on one thing: Eating healthily is crucial if you want to increase your chances of conception. Folic acid is a key factor in the decision to choose the spinach salad over the fries. This B vitamin, which is present in your body both before and after conception to prevent birth abnormalities, can be found in leafy greens. While you’re trying to get pregnant, doctors advise you to additionally take a vitamin containing at least 400 micrograms of folic acid.
Caring For Your Teeth
If you have neglected your oral hygiene, now is the time to start flossing and get back on schedule with your dental visits. Prior to becoming pregnant, you and your spouse should both have extremely healthy teeth. A man’s sperm count can be impacted by his dental health, and gum disease can raise a woman’s risk of preterm labor and low birth weight babies. The increased risk of periodontal disease (gum disease) and tooth decay is the reason why poor oral hygiene might have a detrimental impact on fertility.
Role Of Exercise According to one study, engaging in routine, moderate physical exercise, such as brisk walking, leisurely cycling, golfing, and gardening, can speed up the process of getting pregnant for women.
Vigorous activity lengthened the time it took for women to become pregnant in the same study that we previously stated.
While maintaining your fitness, you do not want to overdo it. Vigorous activity lengthened the time it took for women to become pregnant in the same study that we previously stated. We’re not telling you to stop running in the morning if you’ve always done it, but exercising out to the point that it affects your period – as some marathon runners and gymnasts do – can mess with your fertility.
Bisphenol And Pollution
Consider giving the material your water bottle is constructed a close look. BPA, also known as bisphenol A, is a chemical that can be found in some plastic products, including food and drink containers, water bottles, and even the lining of aluminum cans. According to some research, excessive BPA exposure may interfere with both men’s and women’s fertility, possibly lowering sperm count or decreasing the number of viable eggs. Avoid canned food and anything from a plastic container that has the recycling number three or seven on it to reduce your exposure to BPA (usually on the bottom of the container).
Level Of Stress We all experience some level of stress in our daily lives, but experts are divided on whether stress can lead to infertility. However, there is proof that long-term or extreme stress can harm your reproductive system. According to one study, women who had higher levels of the stress biomarker had a two-fold higher risk of infertility. Naturally, experiencing difficulties conceiving can also be very stressful. Therefore, discuss coping mechanisms with your doctor if you believe that your stress levels may be having an impact on your health and capacity to conceive. According to several studies, alternative therapies like yoga and acupuncture actually speed up the process of getting pregnant for infertile patients.
Mercury-Rich Seafood
The most mercury-rich fish include marlin, orange roughy, tilefish, swordfish, shark, king mackerel, and bigeye tuna. High blood mercury levels have been associated with problems with male and female fertility.
Additionally, since mercury can affect a fetus’s developing brain and nervous system and can persist in your system for a year or longer, avoiding it will boost your chances of a safe pregnancy.
Enjoy seafood? Numerous foods, such as anchovies, catfish, clams, cod, crab, crayfish, flounder, haddock, herring, oysters, salmon, sardines, scallops, shrimp, sole, squid, tilapia, trout, whitefish, and more, are regarded as low in mercury. Low mercury seafood is safe to consume during pregnancy in portions of two to three-four ounces each.