Is Overexercising Affecting Your Sperm Count?

 

It’s a general fact that exercise is essential to your lifestyle, whether you are the daily jogger, the gym-buff or the weekend warrior. With healthy, grinning faces boasting an amount of weekly calories burned away and muscles that could dent a car, there hardly seems to be a downside to it.

 

Naturally, sex and fertility hardly ever seem to play a part in exercise – but too much of a good thing can be a very terrible extreme.

 

Ladies want the sexy curves to go with that impossibly daring outfit, but it never hurts to look after yourself in the meantime!

 

For women of average weight, there is the issue of Amenorrhea: a delay in the menstrual cycle that lasts for more than three months. Long-term, excess exercise combined with not enough food is sometimes the cause of this, which can then affect your fertility in the long run. To avoid it, consider a greater intake of calories if you do not wish to lessen the amount of training that you do.

 

In other cases, it should be noted that obesity can affect your fertility when your body becomes overheated – on the other side of the scale, exercising for a long duration can also affect the oestrogen levels.

 

Men are not entirely out of the picture though. Some may love a grubby man who can flex, lift and sort out their carburettor, but long-term, exhaustive exercises can lessen the sperm count, as well as your likelihood to conceive. Arguably, heavy-resistance training can increase testosterone, which can then have a chain-effect on other hormones – fertility included.

 

Does this mean chucking out the running shoes altogether?

 

Far from it!

 

Instead, like your diet, work out in moderation and don’t be too vigorous – any exercise still maintains your muscles – as long as you keep note of what you’re doing and how much you’re doing; there will be a chance to have a healthy family, as well as a happy body without pushing yourself too far.

 

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Categories: count, exercise, Fertility, long, Long term, nbsp, overexercising affecting, sperm count

Is Overexercising Affecting Your Sperm Count?

 

It’s a general fact that exercise is essential to your lifestyle, whether you are the daily jogger, the gym-buff or the weekend warrior. With healthy, grinning faces boasting an amount of weekly calories burned away and muscles that could dent a car, there hardly seems to be a downside to it.

 

Naturally, sex and fertility hardly ever seem to play a part in exercise – but too much of a good thing can be a very terrible extreme.

 

Ladies want the sexy curves to go with that impossibly daring outfit, but it never hurts to look after yourself in the meantime!

 

For women of average weight, there is the issue of Amenorrhea: a delay in the menstrual cycle that lasts for more than three months. Long-term, excess exercise combined with not enough food is sometimes the cause of this, which can then affect your fertility in the long run. To avoid it, consider a greater intake of calories if you do not wish to lessen the amount of training that you do.

 

In other cases, it should be noted that obesity can affect your fertility when your body becomes overheated – on the other side of the scale, exercising for a long duration can also affect the oestrogen levels.

 

Men are not entirely out of the picture though. Some may love a grubby man who can flex, lift and sort out their carburettor, but long-term, exhaustive exercises can lessen the sperm count, as well as your likelihood to conceive. Arguably, heavy-resistance training can increase testosterone, which can then have a chain-effect on other hormones – fertility included.

 

Does this mean chucking out the running shoes altogether?

 

Far from it!

 

Instead, like your diet, work out in moderation and don’t be too vigorous – any exercise still maintains your muscles – as long as you keep note of what you’re doing and how much you’re doing; there will be a chance to have a healthy family, as well as a happy body without pushing yourself too far.

 

The post Is Overexercising Affecting Your Sperm Count? appeared first on .

Categories: count, exercise, Fertility, long, Long term, nbsp, overexercising affecting, sperm count

What Do Hormones Have to Do With Fertility?

By Meghan Belnap

What do hormones have to do with fertility? In a word, everything. Without the correct hormonal balance, you can’t get pregnant at all. Once you understand your hormones, you can use this knowledge to increase your chances of getting pregnant.

What Hormones Are Involved?

Hormones control a woman’s monthly cycle. To start the cycle off, the pituitary gland releases the follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). This hormone tells your ovaries to start maturing eggs.  As the follicles mature, estrogen levels go up. Once they reach a certain level, your body knows the egg is ready, and the pituitary gland will produce a luteinizing hormone (LH) whichcausesthe ovary to release the egg.

 

At this point in the cycle, the body will have increased levels of progesterone. This hormone prepares the uterine lining for pregnancy. If the egg is fertilized, hCG will be produced and progesterone levels will continue to raise. If not, they will fall and the menstrual period will begin.

 

Getting pregnant has a lot to do with timing, and that timing depends on hormones. If her hormones are all balanced, a woman is most fertile a few days before ovulation.

 

 

What Can Go Wrong?

Besides FSH, LH, hCG, progesterone, and estrogen, the body also produces prolactin. Prolactin stimulates milk production, but it also affects menstruation and ovulation. If your body has too much prolactin in the blood, it will inhibit FSH and block the triggering of ovulation. This is why women typically don’t ovulate or conceive when they are breastfeeding (source: Parenting).

 

If the body has too much or too little of any of the necessary hormones, the menstruation cycle and fertility can be disrupted. For example, if the body doesn’t produce LH, or the LH is inhibited in any way, you will not ovulate and will not be able to get pregnant.

 

 

What Influences Hormonal Balance?

The delicate hormone balance in the body can be influenced by a few different factors, such as:

 

• Weight. Body fat cells store estrogen, causing lower-than-normal estrogen levels. This can lead to cycle irregularities and infertility issues.

 

• Thyroidproblems. The thyroid plays a big role in hormone production. If the thyroid is producing too many or too few hormones, the menstruation cycle may be disrupted.

 

• Stress. The stress hormone, known as cortisol, inhibits sex hormones, contributing to infertility.

 

• Nutrition. If you aren’t getting enough vitamins, minerals, and fluids, your body will not function properly. Additionally, food with human-made chemicals can damage your endocrine glands, which will throw your hormones out of balance.

 

• Chemicals. Chemicals from other sources besides food can also have similar negative effects in the body. Xenohormones are also a concern—human-made chemicals that act like hormones in your body. They either change natural hormones or inhibit their production/reception.

 

 

What Can Improve the Balance?

If hormone imbalance is lowering your fertility, there are things you can do to return your hormone levels to normal.

 

Do your best to keep your body healthy. Get plenty of exercise, eat a healthy diet, and get enough sleep. Also try to lower stress levels in your life. Healthy exercise and nutrition will help with stress levels, but look into other ways of stress management such as relaxation techniques.

 

A hormone doctor, like Dr. John Jain, reproductive endocrinologist, can run blood and/or saliva tests to look for imbalances that may be contributing to infertility. If an imbalance is found, he or she can prescribe medicines to correct the problem. One method is to inject artificial hormones into your body. These can either fool the brain into triggering processes like ovulation, or can block hormone receptors.

 

If you are struggling with infertility, don’t give up hope yet. Your problem could be the result of a hormone imbalance. Talk to a fertility doctor or endocrinologist about testing your body’s chemical balance, and do all you can to keep your body healthy and regular.

 

Categories: Fertility, hormones, what

How to Use Complementary Therapy to Boost Your Fertility

If you want to improve your chances of getting pregnant, it’s important to look after your wellness and wellbeing. As well as all the traditional, mainstream ways, you should look to gain an all-natural boost from the plethora of treatments and tips available under the discipline of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

 

At a recent fertility seminar held in New York City, many natural fertility specialists highlighted the importance that Traditional Chinese Medicine and other mind/body techniques can have on a woman’s chances of having a baby.

 

For example, traditional Chinese Medicine can help to improve blood flow to the reproductive area. It is thought that a stressful lifestyle can remove blood flow away from the reproductive organs, funnelling it instead to the legs and arms as part of the body’s ‘fight or flight’ response to danger. To change this, a course of acupuncture can help to redirect the blood flow back to the reproductive organs. You could also try focused relaxation (such as mentally going to your internal ‘happy place’), or a session of de-stressing yoga, or even a massage.

 

Hormones also play a big role in conception. When your hormones are all out of kilter, it can make it much tougher to conceive. Stress is often the cause of hormonal imbalance too, especially as so many women have high –stress lifestyles. Stress can cause increased production of the hormone prolactin, which may then impede ovulation. As well as cutting down on the stress in your life, there are some herbs that can be useful to fertility. You would also benefit hugely from eating a healthy, balanced diet and taking plenty of exercise. All of this will help to bring your body’s hormones back into balance, hopefully helping you to conceive successfully in the future.

Categories: blood flow, chinese, Chinese medicine, Fertility, medicine, reproductive, reproductive organs, Stress, therapy, traditional, traditional chinese

Tips to Enhance your Fertility through Nutrition

Struggling in different ways to improve your fertility might land you into a mess by applying the methods whose side effects are worse. If you are not very careful, you may not get pregnant forever. Most women turn to buy gonal f hormone so that they can use to improve fertility. You need to understand its proper use since this hormone still has worse side effects. Lifestyle changes have in most cases improved fertility in many women and men. However, the best methods to improve your fertility lie in nutritional changes. As a result, this article dwells on nutritional tips to get you fertile. These tips are as follows:

 

• Change your Health Measures following the right Reasons.

 

As a way to avoid tying your health improvement to fertility, you need not to judge your success or failure using your status in pregnancy. Overweight women are believed to have less fertility and as such you need to lose the weight to a desirable one. This improves ovulation in obese women.

 

• Healthy Sane Goals are crucial

Your fertility will improve upon eating plenty of vegetables, fruits and avoiding foods with high calorie content. Physical body exercises are also good in improving your healthy which will in turn set your fertility level higher. Plenty of foods that are gluten-free, nut-free and dairy-freerender the body hard time in digestion and other processes. This reduces fertility level.

 

• Vitamins, Herbs and Supplements are Important in your Diet

 

Your diet needs to be balanced with good amount of natural stuff which includes herbs, vitamin-foods and herbs. In fact, not all natural stuff is good for fertility. For instance; Poisonous mushrooms are natural but can not be eaten to improve fertility. For this reason, you need to see your doctor who will recommend to you pre-natal vitamins/ foods to take.Taking herbs for fertility increase too needs the doctor’s recommendation. Some herbs hinder fertility when they are used in the wrong proportions. In using supplements, you need not combine them as they bring about adverse effects in your fertility.

 

• Antioxidants are great supplements to your diet

Various antioxidants such as heart disease and cancer fighters help to boost fertility levels. The antioxidants are chemical substances meant to prevent the damage of body cells from free radicals. You need to understand that since you live by eating, your body is continuously breaking down thefood to thus producing these radicals. Upon exposure of your body to cigarette smoke, pollution, radiation or chemicals these free radicals can also be formed.

 

Antioxidants also improve the health of sperm cells.  It has been proven in research that men who have taken antioxidants in supplement have less DNA damaged sperms than those who have not. Some of these researches have found that couples whose men have used antioxidants experience higher pregnancies.

 

Examples of antioxidants which are very useful in improving the health of sperms are; Zinc, Selenium, Vitamin C, Folic acid, Lycopene and Vitamin E.

i.            Zinc is found in crabs, red meat, beans, poultry and oysters.

ii.            Selenium is majorly found in Brazil nuts, cod, tuna, chicken and turkey.

iii.            Vitamin C is found in several fruits and vegetables such as grapefruits, kiwi, oranges and red peppers.

iv.            You will obtain Folic acid from the liver, beans, fruits, peas, leafy green vegetables and fortified grains.

v.            Vitamin E is found in seeds, nuts, leafy greens and oils.

vi.            Lycopene is also found in watermelon, apricots, pink grapefruit and tomatoes.

 

• Moderation in Diet

When you decide on your diet, planning is very important. This will avoid overeating of these foods. For instance, Brazil nuts are not recommended to be eaten on a daily basis.You need to consult with your doctor prior to planning on your diet for these foods. You will realize that some food supplements easily interfere with other medications. Most doctors will not recommend you to buy gonalf first before advising on diet moderation.

 

Categories: Brazil nuts, enhance, Fertility, fertility level, folic acid, Free Radicals, improve fertility, natural stuff, nbsp, nbsp antioxidants, nutrition, Tips

Effects of Cervical Cancer on Fertility

Being diagnosed with cancer is overwhelming news in itself. Moreover, if a woman gets to know that the disease could also prevent her from having children, it could be traumatic.

 

Gynecological cancers like endometrial cancer or cervical cancer can severely affect a woman’s chances of getting pregnant and having children. This happens because of the surgery carried out to remove the cancer as well as other treatments like radiation. Radiation on the pelvis area can damage the uterus and this might make carrying a pregnancy difficult.

 

Some types of chemotherapy can affect your heart as well as lungs, an issue which can make your pregnancy quite complicated.

 

This can be very distressing news for any woman because motherhood is something every woman looks forward to in her life. Most of the women find the fact that their chances of having children might get affected emotionally disturbing, while some women give more importance to having a successful treatment and being alive.

 

Surgical procedures for cervical cancers and their effect on chances of pregnancy

For patients in the early stages of cervical cancer, fertility sparing surgery can be of help. Cervical conization is a surgical procedure carried out to remove just the central part of the patient’s cervix. This is a minimally invasive procedure and patients have had successful pregnancies after this surgery.

 

For patients whose cancer is in stage IA2 or IB1, the surgical procedure is little bigger and involves removal of considerable part of cervix as well as some tissue around the cervix, yet the remainder of the uterus is left intact. The lymph nodes in the pelvis might also be removed to prevent the spread of cancer to other parts of the body. This procedure is called radical trachelectomy.

 

The removal of most of the cervix results in the risk of losing the pregnancy in the early stage or delivering before completing the pregnancy. The patient needs constant monitoring during the pregnancy and might also require a caesarean section for delivering the baby. A cerclage or suture can help keep the pregnancy in the uterus. This procedure is relatively new and not very common. Your oncologist and obstetrician must be consulted and all possible risks discussed in detail.

 

In case of advanced cervical cancer, the patient needs radiation along with surgery. In such a case, ovarian transposition may be tried. It is a minimally invasive surgery. The ovaries are surgically removed from the pelvis and placed in the abdomen in such a manner that they are out of the radiation field. This procedure cannot help if the patient needs chemotherapy. Moreover, this procedure has a chance of failing because the blood supply to ovaries gets affected.

 

If you have to undergo hysterectomy, you would not be able to get pregnant after the treatment is over. Same is the case with radiotherapy which affects the working of your ovaries.

 

Some options available to cancer patients

If you have one ovary, your uterus is not damaged and you are having regular periods, you do have hope of conceiving naturally. If you are having unable to conceive naturally, you can ask your gynecologist about assisted reproductive techniques.

 

If both the ovaries have been removed, or your treatment has eliminated the possibility of healthy eggs, you can opt for donor eggs or embryos and carry the pregnancy as well as give birth. If you are unable to carry the pregnancy because of medical complications, you can have the embryos planted to a surrogate volunteer.

 

If your doctor says that you will be unable to carry a pregnancy because of a procedure like hysterectomy, surrogacy might be a good option for you. You can have eggs or embryos frozen before you begin treatment and then have the same implanted to the surrogate.

 

You must talk to your doctors before your treatment begins and ask them about all your doubts and fears. This might help you find the best possible option for yourself.

 

Author Bio:

Sameer Gupta is a medical writer who writes well-researched, in-depth cancer articles which provide relevant information to help patients combat the deadly disease. Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) prides in providing the best cancer treatment solutions to patients who have endured to various cancer types. With cancer centers in Philadelphia, Tulsa, Chicago, Newnan etc., CTCA aims at providing the best treatment options to cancer patients.

Categories: cancer, cancer patients, cancer treatment, cervical, cervical cancer, Effects, Fertility, minimally invasive, nbsp, pregnancy, surgical procedure, treatment

Warning: Exposure to BPA Could Potentially Cause Miscarriage

The chemical BPA could have a serious effect on the wellness and wellbeing of pregnant women, as well as on the environment, the latest research has shown. Carried out in the last year, the research suggests that high levels of BPA could increase the risks of having a miscarriage. It may also contribute to women struggling to fall pregnant in the first place.

 

BPA is found in many different plastics and in the linings of certain canned foods. The research is not enough to categorically prove that there is a link between BPA and miscarriage/fertility issues but it is enough to prove the possibility that BPA could affect fertility and health in this way, and so further studies will now need to be carried out in order to draw attention to the effect that this environmental chemical could have on the health of pregnant women or those trying to become pregnant.

 

BPA stands for bisphenol-A and, along with other environmental chemicals, can have hormone-like effects on the human body. Tests show that BPA shows up in the urine of nearly everyone in the world, even though this chemical has now been removed from many reusable drink containers and baby bottles in recent years. The Food and Drink Administration also now say that BPA is safe to be used in other types of food container.

 

It is also very important to bear in mind that most fertility issues are not in fact in any way related to BPA, but due to numerous other health conditions, and that most miscarriages occur due to problems with chromosomes or the eggs.

 

The study is, therefore, not cause for any undue alarm but does indicate that a lot more research is needed to be carried out on the chemical BPA. Results so far show that women should avoid warming up food in plastic or cooking with plastic, as it is when in contact with heat that the chemical can leak out into foods, and then end up in the human system.

Categories: BPA, chemical, chemical bpa, Fertility, fertility issues, miscarriage, nbsp, nbsp bpa, Pregnant, Pregnant Women, Research, Women

How Lifestyle Choices Affect Female Fertility

Fertility is one of the truly big aspects of life. After all, as a species one of the most important acts we can take part in is reproduction so perhaps it is no surprise that many women worry very much about their level of fertility. Beyond being an act that is important for the continuation of our species, many women see getting pregnant and having a baby as an important part of their own personal development and it is something that they have thought about for a long time. Clearly this is one of the key issues in the lives of thousands of people.

 

If you are thinking about getting pregnant either now or sometime in the future, it makes sense that you will be concerned about your fertility and ways that you can improve it or sustain it. Of course it is worth remembering that sometimes there are factors beyond your control such as medical reasons for infertility – but if this is not the case there are actually many other factors that can play a role in your levels of fertility. Some of the most important of these are actually down to your lifestyle. So here is what you need to know about the aspects of your lifestyle that can affect your ability to have a baby now or in the future.

 

If you have been trying to have a baby by having unprotected sex with your partner for more than a year (or for more than six months if you are over the age of 35) it might be worth checking whether there are any problems with your fertility. There are actually lots of things that can cause problems for female fertility including conditions affecting ovulation, conditions that affect the uterus or a blockage of the fallopian tubes. Remember also that age plays a massive role in fertility for women, and the rule goes that as the older you get the harder it is to conceive. It’s also true that unlike men, who are able to conceive into the later stages of life, women become entirely unable to have children after the menopause.

 

So what are the best ways to promote your levels of fertility? Well, the truth is that there are lots of things that you can do. One of the most important is maintaining a healthy weight. Studies have shown that being overweight or significantly underweight can lead to serious problems with fertility, so if you stay within the healthy weight bracket you’re doing wonders for your fertility. It’s also true that you should avoid sexual transmitted infections (STIs) at all costs. STIs are notorious for their ability to make women infertile and to protect yourself from the potential dangers involved you should be sure to practice safe sex.

 

Other fantastic ideas regarding your lifestyle including eating a healthy diet and managing levels of stress. Eating well and steering clear of stress keep your body healthy and in good condition and this puts you in the ideal state for fertility. You should also schedule regular check-ups with your doctor to ensure that there is nothing you should be worried about and to make sure that you are maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

 

There are also a number of things that should certainly be off limits in order to keep your levels of fertility to high. So you should definitely avoid smoking, limit the amount of alcohol, junk food and caffeine that you consume and also avoid any exposure to toxins. Doing these things are the very best things to ensure that your levels of fertility remain high and you are able to have children.

Categories: female fertility, Fertility, getting older, Healthy, healthy weight, lifestyle, nbsp, safe sex, Women

Is Egg Freezing The Future Of Fertility?

Fertility is unsurprisingly a big topic as it determines whether we can reproduce as a species. In the past it was the case that as humans we would sometimes be limited in our ability to reproduce if there was something wrong with us in terms of the fertilisation process. It would be equally true that we had a limited amount of time in which we are generally able to reproduce – for women, as they get older it becomes more difficult and eventually impossible. For men, the sperm count drops with age and this only makes the situation more difficult. This has been a constant problem that has left many people disappointed when their efforts to have children have failed.

 

But as modern technology has only improved over the years it has become possible to apply it to the problems of fertility. There are many ways that scientists have attempted to counter the issue of fertility problems, one of which is the famous in vitro fertilisation – a process that takes the eggs and sperm from the couple that cannot conceive, fertilises them together and then places them either back into the woman or into a female surrogate. This process has become very popular as a way to overcome the crushing disappointment experienced by those couples that cannot conceive in the natural way.

 

But in vitro fertilisation is not the only way that science has been used to help out with this increasingly common problem. Another is known as egg freezing. But up until recently egg freezing was considered to be perhaps more controversial than in vitro fertilisation because it was still essentially an experimental technology. However, that all changed last October when the American Society for Reproductive Medicine announced that egg freezing should no longer be considered an experimental procedure – and this is big news, considering how recent the technology is.

 

The technology involves flash freezing eggs from women when they younger to then use later in their lives when they are ready to have children but their fertility has waned somewhat. But now that the perhaps worrying label of ‘experimental’ has been lifted from the treatment, does that mean that woman have been flocking to have their eggs frozen? Well it does not seem that this is the case just yet. Indeed, it still seems that not only women generally, but some fertility doctors still have some misgivings about the treatment and this is holding it back from joining the mainstream.

 

Some doctors are known to fear that if they go through with the process of freezing the eggs, it will change the lives of the women involved. That may be true but not necessarily in a bad way – having your eggs frozen actually essentially offers you the opportunity to live your life to a fuller extent for a longer period of time. So how exactly should you do this? Well there is actually a good system of best practice to follow.

 

For example, it is a good idea to freeze a number of eggs, perhaps around 30 in order to have a good chance that one will conceive. It currently thought that the success rate lies at around 35 per cent, so this gives you an idea of how many eggs you’ll need. Unfortunately the process is still rather expensive and costs many thousands of pounds to have you eggs frozen – and it will cost even more to have the rest of procedure conducted once you have made the decision to have children but if you’ve decided that this process is right for you then you might well decide the money is worth it!

Categories: Baby, egg freezing, Eggs, eggs frozen, Fertility, freezing, in vitro, nbsp, process, vitro fertilisation

Fertility Familiarity: Five Facts You Need to Know

You think that conceiving a baby is going to be easy; after all, enough happy accidents occur these days that you should get knocked up as soon as you go off the pill, right? In actual fact, fertility is a big sexual health issue, not because it’s all-too easy to conceive, but actually because we humans are worse of in terms of fertility wellness than we think. According to Medica IVF’s Dr David Knight, ‘If you are between 18 and 34 and you and your partner are generally healthy, doctors say more often than not some simple problems – with easy fixes –may be standing in your way.’ Unfortunately, myths and old wives tales can get in the way of you falling pregnant, as well as your sense of wellbeing when you don’t conceive, so let’s take a look at the facts about fertility:

 

1. When to have sex: You don’t necessarily need to have sex on the day you ovulate. In fact, this may decrease your chances of conceiving as waiting until ovulation means you bypass your most fertile time. Once you’ve ovulated, your egg is only viable for the next 24 hours. Moreover, sperm can live in your reproductive tract for 3-4 days, so having sex two to three times a week means that when you do ovulate there will be sperm waiting! Dr Knight notes, ‘I tell my patients to have regular intercourse, meaning two to three times a week generally starting after your period stops. Specifically I encourage couples NOT to monitor ovulation or use temperature graphs.’

 

2. It’s never too much: When you’re trying to conceive, don’t worry about having too much sex. Research has shown that having sex every day makes you slightly more likely to conceive than if you had sex every other day – it’s simple maths really. However, don’t put sex on a schedule, as experts warn that this can actually lower your chances of conception. Data suggests that love making on a schedule has a negative effect on your hormones.

 

3. How position affects conception: Most people believe that the position you use affect conception. The theory goes that lying on your back for 20 minutes after having sex ensures that the sperm stays in the neck of your uterus for longer. However, regardless of the position you take, if you have sex sufficient sperm are deposited in the neck of the womb and are able to begin their journey towards the egg. Position is irrelevant, as is staying on your back.

 

4. Saving up sperm doesn’t improve potency: The testicles produce millions of sperm every day, which are stored in a tiny sac at the top of each testicle known as the epididymis. Abstaining from sex in order to accumulate a giant sperm load will not up your chances of conception. In fact, storing up sperm may mean the old stuff is of an inferior quality and may even hinder the newly produced, healthier sperm from reaching the egg.

 

5. Lubricant does more harm than good: You might try lube to help sperm slip, slide and get inside but not only is this ineffectual, it could actually prevent you from getting pregnant. Dr Knight explains that most lubricants change the pH or acid balance inside the vagina, which can affect the motility of sperm and ultimately prevent or reduce your chances of conception. If you still find you need to use a lubricant, avoid petroleum jelly like the plague. Instead, use natural vegetable products, such as olive oil, as these are far less likely to cause any serious problems for the sperm.

Categories: chances, conceive, conception, dr knight, Fertility, Lubricant, nbsp, positions, sperm

The Truth About the Reasons and Causes for Infertility

Infertility is a serious sexual and reproductive health issue. It is the word given for the inability to conceive a child within 12 months of normal sexual intercourse without using contraception. This can affect the wellness and wellbeing of both men and women.

 

Women are at their highest peak of fertility during their 20s, but continue to produce eggs (ovulate) until they go through the menopause – usually in their late 40s or their early 50s. Men, on the other hand, can remain fertile right up until they are in their late 70s, but the quality of the sperm does deteriorate over time.

 

There are also lots of other non-age-related factors which can affect fertility such as general health conditions including thyroid disease, uncontrolled diabetes and obesity. Psychological factors can also affect fertility, and this can include things like tension, stress and anxiety. Excessive smoking or drinking can also cause problems with fertility, as can some kinds of prescription medications.

 

Female fertility is caused by various things, such as a failure to produce eggs, failure of the ovaries in developing, endometriosis, inflammation of the reproductive organs, tumour in the womb, hormonal imbalances, blocked fallopian tubes, hostile cervical mucus and, in some rare cases, a reaction against their partner’s sperm.

 

Doctors can assess infertility by doing physical examinations and taking a detailed medical history of both partners, including things like exposure to sexually transmitted diseases and any menstrual problems. Blood tests can be carried out to look for hormonal imbalances, ad sperm tests can be done to make sure that there is enough healthy sperm. Various scans of the female reproductive tract can also be organised.

 

Infertility is treated in a number of ways, such as through weight management, recommendation of best times for sexual intercourse, surgery, fertility medicines and in extreme cases another method of fertilisation, such as IVF or GIFT.

Categories: affect, affect fertility, Causes, Fertility, hormonal imbalances, Infertility, nbsp, produce eggs, sexual intercourse, sperm

What Every Woman Ought to Know About Cervical Mucus

It’s not the most glamorous of topics, but cervical mucus is vital to your sexual wellness and wellbeing. Many conception experts even believe that it is the single most important factor that is involved in successful conception. If you want to conceive then it is really important that you know what cervical mucus is, what it looks like and what that tells you.

 

If you’re wondering what on earth cervical mucus is, it is the jelly-like substance that sits high up in your cervix. It is secreted by little glands in the cervix known as cervical crypts. This fluid acts as a gatekeeper of the cervix, and prevents bacteria from reaching the fallopian tubes and uterus if it enters via the vagina.

 

When it is in receptive mode, the mucus also helps to transport sperm through the cervix to where the egg is waiting to be fertilised. Without the cervical mucus, it is likely that the acids in the vagina would neutralise the sperm or prevent them from swimming up through the birth canal.

 

If you get to know your body, your cervical mucus can actually help you tell when the best time is to conceive. Looking out for changes in your cervical mucus could be very worthwhile if you are trying to have a baby.

 

Infertile mucus is the thick, dry mucus that many women experience at the end of their period. Sperm would find it impossible to pass through this and reach the fallopian tubes. After this, the mucus becomes a little thinner, and this is potentially penetrable by the sperm. Fertile mucus occurs after this, around the middle of the cycle. This mucus is wet and slippery and is likely to be clear or have a colour to it. Some women also describe it as abundant and watery. The most fertile mucus has a sort of ‘egg white’ consistency, being quite thin and stringy, and clear.

Categories: cervical, cervical mucus, cervix, Fallopian Tubes, fertile mucus, Fertility, mucus, nbsp, sperm

Do You Know Fact From Fiction When it Comes to Fertility?

There are so many myths when it comes to sexual health, and some women find it hard to know what steps to take to protect their wellness and wellbeing when there is so much misinformation out there.

 

Even although over half the world go through menstruation, it is still a hugely misunderstood area of human physiology. As a result of this, fertility myths abound, and it can be hard to sort fact from fiction.

 

For example, some people believe that women are fertile all of the time, when in truth most women are only fertile for a few days in each cycle. This is the time when the egg released from the ovaries. Sperm can live in the female reproductive tract for a few days, though, so it’s actually possible to fall pregnant during a few days of each month.

 

Unfortunately, people often feel that infertility is bound to be a woman’s fault, but this is simply not true either. In actual fact, 40 percent of infertility is down to females and 40 percent is down to males, with the remaining 20 percent being a combination of both male and female infertility, so things are actually pretty equal.

 

Women can also ovulate more than once in a cycle, although this is very rare. The second egg would normally be released around 24 hours after the first, and in this case twins can be conceived. This type of conception would result in fraternal (non identical) twins. If an egg splits after it has been fertilised, this can lead to identical twins.

 

People also think that ovulation can only occur on day 14 of the cycle, but this is just an average. Some women ovulate very early in their cycle and others ovulate much later.

Categories: cycle, Fertility, health, identical twins, Myths, nbsp, ovulate, people, Women

Fact or Fiction? The Most Common Pregnancy Myths

When it comes to pregnancy, there are so many myths and old wives tales that it can be hard to sort the fact from the fiction. People will claim that the gender of the baby is related to the phase of the moon at the time of conception, or the sexual position that you used to fall pregnant. Others will say that you cannot fall pregnant at all unless you have an orgasm.

 

Your number one priority should be your wellness and wellbeing, and so if you are trying to become pregnant you should seek advice first and foremost from your healthcare professional, and ignore the well-meaning and often strange advice of family and friends.

 

One common myth is that you need to stop the pill for at least six months before you will be able to conceive. In truth, as soon as you stop taking the pill, you can potentially get pregnant. Even missing a pill or two is enough to mean that you fall pregnant in some cases! At the same time, hormone-based birth control can have an effect on the cervical mucus, and it may take some time for this to reverse in order for you to become pregnant.

 

Others believe that if you have sex with the woman on top, you will not fall pregnant. This one is entirely untrue. It is possible to fall pregnant from any (vaginal!) sexual position, as ejaculation causes the sperm to be placed high up inside the vagina, and the sperm then swim. Due to the natural forces of gravity, it may make pregnancy slightly less likely, but it is most definitely not impossible.

 

One myth that is true is that if men were tight pants, it may be harder for them to father a child. This is because sperm does not like to become too hot. Tight pants restrict the testicles from moving around and this can lower the sperm count. Loose fitting cotton shorts are best for men who are trying to conceive a baby.

Categories: fall, fall pregnant, Fertility, Myths, nbsp, pregnancy, Pregnant, sexual position, sperm, tight pants, time

Best Ways to Have Sex if You Want to Conceive

To conceive a baby, you need to ensure that your wellness and wellbeing are a priority. Many people improve their diet, cut down on their alcohol intake and take various other steps to ensure that they are in the best possible condition to conceive. In addition to these very sensible steps, you should also make sure that your sexual positions are helping the process and not hindering it, and that you are not doing anything else that could be preventing nature from taking its course.

 

When you start trying for a baby, it’s perfectly ok for any sexual position to be used, but if you find it is taking a bit longer than you had hoped then you should think a bit more closely about the positions that you use and how they could be helping or hindering your attempt to fall pregnancy. Scientists widely agree that missionary position or doggy style are the best positions to use if you are hoping to fall pregnant. Both of these positions fire the sperm high up into the vagina, making the reach the cervix more easily, and bringing the sperm closer to the egg.

 

Don’t worry too much about female orgasm, either (unless you want to, of course!) as research has shown that women can fall pregnant without reaching orgasm just as easily as when they do. The man has to have an orgasm of course, though…!

 

It may make you feel a bit crazy, but one thing you could try to aid conception is to lie upside down and cycle an imaginary bicycle after sex. To do this, you should wait until the man has ejaculated and then lie on your back with a pillow in the small of your back, and cycle your legs in the air. This will aid the sperm’s passage up to the fallopian tubes.

Categories: conception, Fertility, Sex

Trouble Getting Pregnant? Why Not Try a Fertility Monitor?

Infertility is a major health concern, but just because you have trouble getting pregnant, it doesn’t mean that infertility has affected your wellness. The chances are that you are getting your timing wrong, and need something that tells you when you can conceive. This is where Valley Electronics’ Baby-Comp® comes in, as the small computerised monitor can identify the days of the month in which you are more likely to conceive.

 

You are at your most fertile about halfway through your menstrual cycle, as this is when your ovaries release an egg to travel to the uterus, ready to be fertilised by a sperm. This normally gives you a six-day window in which you can get pregnant – the five days before ovulation and the day you ovulate. So, your fertility monitor can predict, with extreme precision, when you have the highest chance of getting pregnant by measuring your oral temperature and then using a built-in intelligent algorithm to compare this information with that from about 700,000 cycles of other women – with over 99% accuracy!

 

According to Luke Manczak, managing director of the only authorised distributor of Baby-Comp® and Lady-Comp® in the UK and Ireland, ‘Our fertility monitors are very popular in the US and Europe, especially in Germany where they were developed by a team of gynaecologists, software specialists and electronic experts. The electronic brain, containing knowledge about fertility, is manufactured by leading suppliers in Germany where the device is also assembled.’

 

‘The project was also supported by the Innovation Fund and the Federal Ministry for Research and Technology,’ Manczak continued. ‘This is because research shows that fertility monitors are effective at helping women get pregnant in a natural way, and at minimising the need for complex, invasive, expensive medical procedures such as hormonal therapy, artificial insemination including in vitro, which result in many discarded human embryos (from many fertilised eggs only one is implanted). A recent survey found that 75% of women who couldn’t have children were able to conceive with the help of Baby-Comp®.’

 

Manczak added, ‘Fertility monitors also work perfectly well for natural family planning; allowing women to avoid invasive coils or pills, which studies have shown carry risk of abortion for all women taking the pills or using coils, by their anti-nidation mechanism, which doesn’t allow to attach the newly conceived embryo to the mother’s uterine lining. Unfortunately, many women are not given information by their doctors about anti-implantation mechanism and the risks they are exposed to, and the fact that these can be eliminated with a natural family planning approach such as the ovulation method.’

Categories: Baby-Comp®, comp, conception, Fertility, fertility monitor, fertility monitors, natural family, nbsp, Pregnant, Women

What Every Cancer Patient Should Know About Their Fertility

When you get cancer, your whole world falls apart, and every aspect of your life suffers. If you are young and have not yet had a family (or not yet completed a family), the devastating blow to your reproductive and sexual health can be particularly damaging to your emotional wellness and wellbeing.

 

There is new hope, however, that cancer need not necessarily mean the end of your child-bearing days.

 

That’s not to say that the risks are not real, however, as cancer is certainly an emergency situation, and as such, treatment of the cancer has to be a first priority. Saving fertility or sexual health will never take precedence over treating the cancer, and if they have to be the things to go in order to save your life, then so be it.

 

Nevertheless, many young people are devastated to realise that the cancer treatments that they are being given or are about to be given to save their lives could render them infertile.

 

The option is now offered to them to preserve their fertility, and this is frequently done through freezing eggs. Whilst the treatment may still kill off the ovaries and even the body’s ability to carry a child, there can then still be hope of a future genetic baby using the genetic material gathered.

 

This is even more of a serious consideration when the cancer is located on the sexual reproductive organ, such as on the ovaries. The treatments for these (such as chemotherapy) almost undoubtedly damage the organs and the surrounding organs too.

 

Thanks to modern technology, however, the dosages of chemotherapy are getting more specific, and the same goes for radiotherapy. No longer are these treatments turned up to ‘full volume’ to whack out the disease, as the science is getting more exact. These more finely-tuned doses of therapy are often less damaging to the body overall.

Categories: cancer, Fertility, nbsp, reproduce, sexual, sexual health, Treatments

The Secret to Having an Easy and Healthy Conception

When you are trying for a baby, your sexual and reproductive wellness is of utmost importance. Even those who have never give a thought to their reproductive wellbeing find that as soon as they make the momentous decision to have a baby, the worry about whether or not they will be able to conceive surfaces.

 

The good news is that the only thing that most people need in order to conceive a child is a healthy and happy sex life. Fertility experts stress that having a relaxed sex life and having plenty of sex are the best ingredients for allowing conception to occur. Some couples, for example, simply do not have enough sex to ensure that they are introducing the sperm into the reproductive tract at the right time of the month.

 

Women are actually only fertile for a few days each month, so it can be useful to get to know about your or your partner’s fertility cycle. Be careful not to get too bogged down in the details, however, as there is nothing less sexy than feeling that you have to have sex on certain days because you are fertile – if you simply keep sex regular throughout the month you are likely to be copulating at the right time!

 

During the woman’s fertile time, hormonal changes make an egg release itself from her ovaries. This travels down the fallopian tubes, living for 12 – 24 hours, and for you to become pregnant, the egg must meet some sperm during this time. Sperm live up to five days, however, so you can become pregnant from sperm that is still ‘hanging around’ inside the female reproductive tract from previous sex, which then fertilises the egg as soon as it appears.

 

Try to steer clear of ovulation kits, temperature charts and so on, as this kind of obsessing only leads to stress, which is not good for conception.

Categories: Baby, conception, Fertility, nbsp, reproductive tract, sex life, sperm, time

Could Excessive Exercise be Causing You to be Infertile?

You know that exercise is a vital part of maintaining your wellness, and so many people ensure that they incorporate exercise into their daily routine. You may be shocked, then, to realise that too much exercise can actually be as bad for you as too little. New research is emerging which suggests that excessive exercise could be damaging to your sexual health and your reproductive wellbeing.

 

Amenorrhea is a condition which occurs when women who are of a normal reproductive age do not have a normal period for three or more months. This is generally caused by not enough food, long-term excessive exercise or a combination of the two. If you experience amenorrhea it is a sign that you are putting undue stress on your body, and that you should reduce the amount of exercise that you are doing.

 

If it is not possible to reduce how much exercise you are doing (such as if you are a professional sports person or are in training for some event) then you should attempt to up your calorie intake to compensate for all the exercise that you are doing and make sure that your body has enough fuel to burn off during these demanding sessions. Otherwise your body has no reserves to use for energy and starts attacking itself, leaving you in no fit state to conceive a child.

 

A Danish study was published last year which corroborates this. It looked at 3,600 women who were trying to fall pregnant. The group was subcategorised according to weight, and their eating and exercise habits were monitored. The researchers found that women whose weight was normal but who carried out too much strenuous exercise could cause themselves to be unable to conceive, or at least to experience delayed conception. This was published in the journal Fertility and Sterility, and seems to corroborate the idea that exercise can have a strong impact on fertility.

Categories: body, excessive exercise, exercise, Fertility, Infertility, nbsp, normal

Could Ancient Chinese Medicine Increase your Fertility?

Those who are struggling with their fertility may begin to look into complementary forms of medicine, such as Chinese medicine, to see if they can improve things in this way. Chinese medicine has been used to assist couples with their reproductive wellbeing for thousands of years, long before any kind of assisted reproduction technology was available.

A German study was then published in 2002, which found that the use of this Chinese medicine improved peoples reproductive wellness nad chance of successful conception by around 60 percent. Following on from this, many other countries, including the united states of America, conducted their own studies to find out how effective the form of medicine is. Time and time again they came to the same conclusion: both Chinese herbs and acupuncture techniques improve a woman’s chances of getting pregnant.

As a result of this, all great fertility endocrinologists across the country now work in conjunction with a Chinese medical practitioner, or have a recommended fertility specialist that they point patients towards for acupuncture or other treatments.

Despite the wealth of information proving that Chinese medicine can help women to fall pregnant, many practitioners state that they sometimes have problems finding clients who believe in the practice enough to give the ancient healing a go when it comes to improving their fertility. Some therapist will even go as far as to agreeing to work with couples on a pro bono basis – only charging for their services if conception happens.

Not only is Chinese medicine though to assist women in getting pregnant, but healers also believe that their techniques also help women to sustain a pregnancy. In terms of cost, too, it is far cheaper to go down the Chinese medicine route rather than paying for the costs and going through the invasive procedure of IVF.

 

Categories: chinese, Fertility, medicine