Increase Your Pregnancy Chances By Living A Balanced Lifestyle

Balanced Lifestyle
You can increase your pregnancy chances by living a “balanced lifestyle”. This means you will need to eliminate stress, overeating, substance abuse, sleep deprivation and couch potato, to name a few, from your lifestyle vocabulary.

Weight
It has been shown that 12 percent of all infertility cases include women weighing either too much or not enough. It is best to get your weight to a normal amount for your height before trying to become pregnant. However, make sure to do it in a healthy, responsible way rather than a crash diet of sorts. Try to eat a balanced diet without stuffing yourself at every meal and stay away from a lot of sweets.

Exercise
Unless you are already in an established exercise routine (non-excessive), 20-30 minutes daily of moderate exercise is recommended.

Sleep
Sleep is essential to our quality of life, overall health, and fertility. Sleep helps heal and regenerate the brain and body. When a woman suffers from lack of sleep so does her mood, her immunity, her relationship with her spouse, and hormonal balance. Lack of sleep can also lead to fertility-impairing habits like too much caffeine and overeating. Lack of sleep can also lead to irregular menstruating, which can also postpone conceiving.

Drugs
There are drugs that can actually decrease your fertility. If you are taking any of the following, either stop, or talk with your doctor about it.

Antibiotics
Antidepressants
Chemotherapy
Hormones
Ibuprofen
Prescription pain medications

Other Substances

Some other substances you will want to eliminate, or at the very least, decrease your intake of:

Caffeine: Studies show that under 3 cups per day does not appear to hurt your chances of becoming pregnant. If you are a heavy coffee drinker, cut down to under 3.

Alcohol: One study showed that consuming less than five glasses of wine per week increased chances of pregnancy compared to those who drank more than that.

Tobacco: Smoking has many disadvantages in achieving a pregnancy. Cigarette smoking is the cause of about 13 percent of infertility. It can also bring on early menopause in women, cause lower sperm counts in men, and also affect the sperm condition.

STDs

These are some sexual transmitted diseases that can possibly cause infertility:

Cervicitis
Chlamydia
Gonorrhea
Herpes – not alone
Genital Warts – not alone
Nongonococcal urethritis
Pelvic inflammatory disease
Syphilis

Stress
Chronic stress can interfere with fertility. In more extreme cases, stress could interfere with hormone production or block ovulation altogether. It can affect the immune system which could prevent embryo implantation. Stress can also prevent a woman from sustaining a pregnancy.

Vitamin Supplements: These are some vitamins that may increase fertility:

Lycopene: The All India Institute of Medical Sciences recently did a study and found that lycopene, which is an antioxidant, can increase sperm concentrations in men who are infertile. Lycopene can be found in apricots, papaya, pink grapefruit, watermelon and tomatoes.

Folic Acid: Researchers say that women who take this B-Complex vitamin every day have a better chance of getting pregnant.

Vitamin E: Very powerful antioxidant which could increase men and women’s fertility.

Selenium: Can prevent chromosome breakage which causes miscarriage and birth defects, and also low sperm production.

L-arginine: Amino acid can aid in sperm production and quality.

Ornithine: Amino acid also used in addition to L-arginine to aid in sperm production and quality.

L-carnitine: Amino acid may help sperm cells to function normally.

Zinc: Mineral that helps with semen and testosterone production.

Coenzyme Q10: Antioxidant if taken daily can improve sperm movement in men.

Essential fatty acids: Taken by men with poor sperm quality, motility or low counts.

Whether you want a pregnancy or not, it would be of great benefit to your health and well-being to try to live as balanced a lifestyle as you can. You will feel better about yourself and the rewards will be worth it in the long run.