Steps To Boost Your Pregnancy Chances

March 22, 2022Pregnancy

Neglecting your teeth

If you have been lax about dental hygiene, now’s the time to get back on track with your dentist appointments and make sure you’re flossing. You and your partner should both get your pearly whites super-healthy before you get pregnant. Poor oral hygiene can affect a man’s sperm count, and if you have gum disease, it could increase your risk of premature delivery and a low-birth-weight baby.

The reason poor dental hygiene can negatively affect fertility is due to the increased risk of periodontal disease (gum disease) and tooth decay.

Poor Exercise

Keep making excuses not to exercise? Stop! One study found that doing regular, moderate physical activity – like brisk walking, leisurely cycling, golfing and gardening – cut down the amount of time it took women to get pregnant.

Extreme exercise

You want to stay fit, but you do not want to overdo it. In the same study we mentioned above, vigorous exercise increased the amount of time it took women to get pregnant. We are not saying to skip your morning run if that’s what you have always done, but working out to the point of interfering with your menstrual cycle, as some marathon runners and gymnasts experience, can mess with your fertility.

BPA

You may want to take a hard look at what your water bottle is made of. BPA, aka bisphenol A, is a chemical found in some plastic items, such as water bottles, food containers, and even in the lining of aluminum cans. Some studies have led scientists to believe that high BPA exposure could mess with men’s and women’s fertility, potentially lowering sperm count or reducing the number of viable eggs. Limit your BPA exposure by avoiding canned foods and avoiding consuming anything from a plastic container with the recycling number three or seven on it (usually on the bottom of the container).

Stressing out

We have all got a little bit of stress in our lives, and experts disagree on whether stress can cause infertility. But there’s evidence that chronic or intense stress can do a number on your reproductive system – one study found that women with higher levels of the stress biomarker had a two-fold increased risk of infertility. And of course, having trouble getting pregnant can cause quite a bit of stress! So if you feel that your stress levels might be affecting your health and your ability to conceive, talk to your doctor about ways to cope. Several studies have found that alternative medicines, such as yoga and acupuncture, have actually shortened the time it took for infertility patients to get pregnant.

High-mercury fish

Some fish are higher in mercury than others – most notably marlin, orange roughy, tilefish, swordfish, shark, king mackerel, and bigeye tuna. High levels of mercury in the blood have been linked to fertility issues in both men and women.

Also, mercury can stay in your system for a year or more and can harm a fetus’s developing brain and nervous system, so avoiding it will increase your chances of a healthy pregnancy.

Love seafood? There’s plenty that’s considered low-mercury, including anchovies, catfish, clams, cod, crab, crawfish, flounder, haddock, herring, oysters, salmon, sardines, scallops, shrimp, sole, squid, tilapia, trout, whitefish, and more