Dealing with infertility as a couple can be a stressful period in the life of both partners involved. The feeling of uncertainty, lack of control and the struggles of fertility treatment often heightens anxiety and adds to the tension couples experience. This stress can be identified as physical exhaustion, weakness, frustration, and lack of interest in previously enjoyed activities. Stress can also affect your body’s health, emotional wellbeing and pose specific challenges to your mental health, especially when it begins to take longer than you expected to conceive a child.

Did you know? Several studies show how stress lowers the chances of pregnancy.

While stress does not cause infertility, infertility sure poses a lot of pressure on people. The effects of infertility can interfere with work, family, money, and sex. Stress can also make people engage in unhealthy behaviour like consuming alcohol, caffeine or smoking, which may seem relaxing, but is actually harmful to fertility health. Stressed people are also less likely to have sexual intercourse. (Domar, Boston IVF). Discovering ways to reduce stress, tension, and anxiety will make you feel better. Exercise is one of the most effective ways used to relieve stress.

Exercise helps you cope with stress and relieves anxiety. Outdoor walks have been proven to be very effective. If you find activities you enjoy, like dancing along to your favourite music, participating in comfortable levels of exercise videos at least three (3) – five (5) times a week, it will improve your mood and body fitness. The appropriate amount of exercise and the kind of exercises you engage in may increase your fertility and enhance your possibility to conceive. Regular aerobics increases your heart rate and increases the feel-good hormones such as endorphins which can alleviate stress. When combined with a healthy diet, exercise makes you feel empowered and in control of your body, decreasing the stress of infertility and ensuring that your future child has a healthy and happy parent.

FYI: Strenuous exercises should be reduced to moderate regular activities of at least five hours per week when you’re actively trying to get pregnant.

Some recommended exercise routines you can do when trying to get pregnant are walking, dancing, bicycling, swimming, and yoga. Strenuous exercises have also been found to reduce the success rates of in-vitro fertilization (IVF), so it is advised to taper down exercise routines like weight training, heavy lifting, and marathons. Trying some other forms of exercise or taking a short break is genuinely a good idea when you’re attempting to conceive or undergoing in-vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment.

HOW EXERCISE IMPROVES FERTILITY

Want to work out to improve your fertility? Check with your doctor first if you haven’t exercised for a long time or if you have chronic health problems, such as arthritis, heart diseases or diabetes.

In both men and women, the key to improving fertility with exercise is done by creating a balanced exercise routine where you are not doing too much or too little that benefits your fertility health. There are subtle physiological body changes that arise from frequently exercising to boost fertility and enhance the odds of achieving pregnancy. They include the following:

• Exercise reduces stress hormone levels in the body. It boosts the mood elevator hormones, brightening your mood and distract you from daily worries, delays, and complex reports while on your fertility journey.

• Regular moderate exercise improves the body’s circulation and metabolic rate. This activity can contribute to better egg production for fertilization. It also optimizes the reproductive system to stimulate the endocrine glands, secrete the hormones that help these eggs grow. Some women get a positive pregnancy test result shortly after they step up their routine exercises.

• Exercise can also enhance your efforts to achieve healthy body weight. Healthy body weight in combination with fitness will improve your body image and sex appeal as an additional benefit when trying to conceive.

• Individuals who have infertility issues are often angry at the physical body, and they stop taking care of it. Exercising helps you feel connected to your body again, you feel rejuvenated, and this connection also boosts your fertility health.

• A body mass index classified as underweight can stop ovulation and interrupt your menstrual cycle. If you can maintain healthy body weight, it will support your chances of getting pregnant.

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