5 everyday habits that might be affecting your fertility

I want to share with you today 5 everyday habits that might be affecting your fertility and you may not even realise it.  When we first started on the road of exploring why we’d lost three babies and what was going on for us fertility wise, I found so many habits I hadn’t even thought about in relation to fertility.  Like … who would’ve thought that keeping your feet warm is ideal for keeping your uterus warm! (If you’re brand new here and want to know more about our fertility story you can learn more here)

Watch the video below for the five habits, or if you prefer to read, scroll on…

5 everyday habits that might be affecting your fertility

Staying up too late

Staying up after 10pm releases cortisol (a stress hormone)  in the body to keep you going.  Extra stress hormone in the body is the last thing you need when you’re trying to conceive.  An excess of this hormone can mean that your menstrual cycle becomes a bit out of whack because your liver is working overtime trying to deal with the excess stress hormones in the body that it needs to get rid of.  Your digestive system might then also be thrown off (because you aren’t getting the sleep it needs to process properly) which means even if you are eating great food your body won’t be processing the nutrients from it and you won’t benefit from it at all.

Skipping meals

Skipping meals sends your blood sugar levels up and down which your body interprets as stress. If your body thinks that there is a shortage of food it will do everything it can to save energy. It will make you feel lethargic so that you lie down and conserve energy and it will also stop wasting energy on what it considers non-essential systems (like the reproductive and digestive systems) – not what you what when you’re trying to conceive.

Give me allllll the coooofffffeeeeeee!

I used to be a big coffee lover until I started paying attention to how the caffeine actually made me feel (ie. anxious!)  I’ve written and vlogged about this before if you want to check out more on coffee and fertility, but basically caffeine creates another stress response in the body. While you don’t have to give it up entirely if you’re trying to conceive, it’s worth checking in and seeing if it’s actually making you feel good or whether it’s giving you that jittery, anxious, must-do-all-the-things right now feeling.

Screen time after dark

After dark our body naturally releases melatonin to tell the body it’s time to wind down and get ready for sleep. If you are surrounded by bright lights and using screens right up until the last minute before sleep you don’t give your body (and mind) this chance to wind down and you probably end up having a worse sleep because of it.  Try turning screens off an hour or so before bed instead to make sure you’re getting the best sleep possible (which in turn gives your body the chance to restore from the day and be it’s healthiest (most fertile) self).

Chemical-filled make up and beauty products

Did you know our skin absorbs whatever we put on it, faster than if we’d just eaten it with a spoon.  Which is a little scary when you consider all of the unpronounceable chemicals that are used in standard make-ups and beauty products these days. If you wouldn’t eat it, it’s probably best not to put it on your skin.

How does it affect your fertility though? Basically your liver is responsible for dealing with all the toxins in the body, including those we ingest or put on our skin, from our environment, AND from our own hormones (reproductive and stress).  If the liver has too much to do because it is trying to process all of these other chemicals it will just send the excess oestrogen it was supposed to get rid of back into the system (because it’s considered the least toxic for the body). Unfortunately though, too much oestrogen messes with your menstrual cycle and could be a reason that conception isn’t happening. A good reason to give your liver a break and ditch the toxic products, yes?

So now it’s your turn. What habits that might be affecting your fertility are you guilty of? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below. x