I find that, often, people reach out to me in my clinical practice or online through Instagram DMs, and they’re confused about all of the things they feel they “should” be doing to optimize their chances of conceiving. There’s a lot of information online, with very specific recommendations, for foods/supplements/lifestyle adjustments. And while it’s great that there is lots of information available, it can often feel overwhelming.
Preparing to make a baby doesn’t mean you have to overhaul your whole life. Lifestyle factors do play a role in the quality of eggs, sperm, and the uterine environment – that’s why I have a job! I create individually-tailored plans to the person sitting in front of me.
In general, though, there are 3 major things that I ask absolutely all of my patients to prioritize.
TOP 3 THINGS TO OPTIMIZE YOUR 100-DAY FERTILE WINDOW
If you’ve been reading our blogs for a while, you already know that your fertility is most impacted by what happens in the 100 days prior to conception. Why? Because for 100 days prior to when you conceive, your lifestyle has a major impact on the quality of eggs or sperm you manufacture.
During these 100 days prior to conception – what you eat, how you supplement, how well you sleep, whether and how you move your body, and any other adjunctive treatments (acupuncture, massage, meditation, etc) – have their greatest effect on your eggs or sperm. We have seen countless clinical cases where implementing the Acubalance Peak Fertility Approach (including the 3 things in this blog) results in better quality embryos from patients who previously had poor responses to IVF. Since there is no fantastic test to tell us about the quality of your eggs or sperm, we use our experience with IVF patients to give us feedback.
If you’re trying to make a baby, you want to optimize the quality of the raw materials – your eggs, sperm and uterine environment – to reach your peak fertility.
Here are my Top 3 Lifestyle Tips to Optimizing Your 100 Day Fertile Window:
- EAT. Eat regular meals, three times per day. Don’t fast for longer than 14 hours overnight, and do not do anything drastic with your diet (now is not the time for keto, very low carb, fat-free, or any other crash diet). We want to not only send your gametes the density of high quality nutrients they need to be their best quality, but we also want to send your endocrine system the signal that it’s SAFE to conceive. In times of famine or high stress, we see changes in ovulatory patterns that do not favor fertility. Eating regularly, not fasting too long, and making sure you’re putting lots of high quality nutrition into your body (whole foods, minimally processed) is the way to send your body the signal that there are ample resources around for nourishing a healthy pregnancy.
- SLEEP. You may not know this, but during sleep is when our bodies make the vast majority of our hormones, and daily variations of hormonal release are dependent on good quality sleep. Of course, melatonin is the star sleep nutrient that everyone is talking about – and it does improve egg quality when it’s maximized in your 100 Day Window – but did you also know that men make almost all of their testosterone while they’re sleeping? Or that progesterone peaks in the morning, LH and FSH in the afternoon, and estradiol (estrogen) is highest overnight? These hormones all rely on us following our bodies’ natural circadian rhythms – being awake when it’s light out, and sleeping when it’s dark – in order to optimize their rhythms. I want all of my patients to be fully asleep between 10pm-2am (when your body makes melatonin, and many of the bodily repair processes are optimized), in a completely black room. I recommend getting 7-9h of good, deep sleep per night, and following a consistent bed time and night-time routine.
- MOVE. Interestingly, one of our major targets for both egg quality and sperm quality respond to specific forms of exercise – that’s our mitochondria. Our cellular batteries, mitochondria direct many of the important steps of fertilization, implantation, and the beginning stages of embryo formation. Without adequate cellular energy, you may be unable to conceive. Luckily, resistance training (like weight lifting) is an easy way to boost mitochondrial function. A single 40-minute session of weight training stimulates the mitochondria for 72 hours – so my recommendation is to do 40 minutes of resistance exercise every 2-3 days.
While there are many supplements, specific IV therapy cocktails, herbs, dietary adjustments, and acupuncture and laser approaches that we combine with the above to further boost Peak Fertility at Acubalance, these top 3 lifestyle factors play a huge role in optimizing your chances of falling pregnant. Whether that happens in the bedroom or in the lab (depending on your life and fertility circumstances), reaching your peak fertility potential by incorporating the above 3 tips will get you there faster and increase the likelihood of you bringing home a healthy baby.
If you’d like to chat more about what you can do during your 100-Day Window, reach out. I’m happy to have a free 15-minute clarity call with you, to see if we’re the right fit. I look forward to helping you reach your wildest dreams.
In health,
Dr. K