4 simple ways to improve egg quality for pregnancy (according to science)
So you’ve been told that your AMH levels aren’t ideal and you’re wondering how the hell you can improve egg quality to increase your chances of falling pregnant. First up – let’s take a deep breath together and shake off that feeling that time is running out for you. It’s not.
After 3 losses in less than 12 months, I was also told that my AMH levels were not good. At first I freaked out. But my naturopath reassured me that this number didn’t necessarily mean that I wasn’t able to have another healthy baby. The AMH test gives us an indicator of how many eggs you have left, but it can’t tell us about the quality of them.
After taking an 8 month break to heal my heart and work on getting myself as healthy as I could possibly be, we conceived our third boy on the very next try. These are the top 4 things I focused on to try and improve egg quality. I hope they help you too.
4 simple ways to improve egg quality
1. Reduce and manage stress
Your body is smart. It knows that times of great stress (which historically would have meant famine, war or danger) isn’t the right time to make a baby. Science tells us that when we’re stressed rising cortisol levels disrupts the balance of hormones in the body. Disruption to hormones can affect ovulation and significantly reduce your chances of falling pregnant.
The quality of your eggs are also directly impacted by stress. High cortisol (the stress hormone your body releases) reduce estradiol levels in the ovaries which impairs the growth and development of follicles. This is why reducing stress is such an important step to improve egg quality.
When you’re struggling with infertility though, this can be really challenging. So much of this experience is stress-inducing; how do you escape it? You need to find something that helps to reduce your stress and you need do it regularly.
Yoga and meditation is my favourite way to manage stress, but you have to find what works for you. It could be a walk outside in nature. A swim in the ocean. A long chat with a good friend. Or maybe you need something more physically intense; going for a jog, a boxing class or weight lifting.
Try this yoga class below to help you release stress and improve egg quality.
2. Boost circulation
Good blood and oxygen flow to the ovaries helps to improve egg quality. You can improve your circulation by making sure you’re drinking enough water, moving your body in a way that gets your heart pumping and through massage and acupuncture.
Remember, exercise doesn’t have to be complicated to give you the fertility benefits. Going for a 30 minute walk every day can go a long way to improving your circulation, especially if you’re pretty inactive for the rest of the day. You can also increase circulation to improve egg quality by treating yourself to a full body massage or acupuncture session where you can, or try self-massage at home.
3. Eat a fertility-friendly diet
Research tells us there no doubt that what you eat affects your fertility. Please don’t interpret this as you needing to have a “perfect” diet to conceive. You don’t. You do however need to give your body enough nutrition to fuel the important task of growing a human from scratch.
The book, It Starts with the Egg is a science-backed guide to improving egg quality with food and supplementation. I also personally follow many of the ideas in the book Womancode, and I appreciate the way she looks at how eating affects our female bodies and hormones.
4. Avoid toxins
Toxins in the environment (think chemicals we use in our home and in our skin products) damage our fertility by impacting our endocrine (hormonal) system. The hormones that govern our reproductive system need a delicate balance to work properly, so when they’re disrupted our body is unable to conceive as intended.
Try reducing the toxins in your environment as much as possible to improve your egg quality (and the quality of your partner’s sperm). Simple swaps can make a big difference. Clean your home with vinegar and baking soda instead of chemical sprays. Use natural skincare and makeups. Use glass instead of plastic for cooking and storing food. Wash your fruits and vegetables before you eat them, or buy organic if you can. Eat more whole foods rather than processed.
Again, I want to emphasise this is not about never coming into contact with any chemical ever again. You don’t need to stress yourself out so much avoiding everything that you can’t live your life. It’s just about reducing the chemical load by making simple changes (that will also help you to feel better as well.)
Where to next?
If you’d like to learn more about improving egg quality I’d recommend reading the book It starts with the egg by Rebecca Fett. This book gives you research backed advice on how to improve egg quality. Highly recommend!
Practice this fertility yoga class with me.
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