Enhance Fertility – How Improve the Health of your Eggs

It has been a common belief in the past that the only factor that would determine ovarian and egg health was age. However new studies have found that this is not necessarily true.

There are many aspects of your life that will have an impact on the health of your ovaries and eggs. These aspects include environmental issues, hormones we absorb through our diet, stress, our consumption of alcohol and other damaging issues such as smoking.

So the better able we are to prepare ourselves with knowledge of implementing a healthy lifestyle we will then be providing our body with the much needed foundation to improve our chances of fertility, not to mention our overall health, plus the health of our baby when we do become pregnant.

So with the information that I am going to provide for you this will address some of the issues that you may be facing.
•Proper circulation
•A healthy fertility cycle
•Balanced hormones
•Egg production and quality

The Importance of Healthy Eggs

Egg health is one of the major foundations for healthy fertility. If the health of your eggs (ovum) is compromised this in turn can have a dramatic affect whether or not fertilization implantation will occur. Not to mention the success of a pregnancy.

Despite various studies regarding age of course this will still have an impact on the new eggs, due to the fact that the ovaries are continuing to age. This in turn will cause the “housing” for the eggs of course not to be of optimal health for pregnancy to occur.

The 90 day Cycle your Eggs

For many women who are having trouble getting pregnant they have been told by their doctors that their eggs are not healthy, or that there eggs are “aged”. The main options that are generally given to women will include using an egg donor, IVF, or adoption.

However what seems to missing from the equation that you are not being told that there are other factors that you are able to do that will help support the health of your ovaries and eggs? These things that you are able to implement however are not quick fixes but lifetime choices and changes. They will need to be put into place for at least 90 days to have an impact.

During the cycle of an eggs journey towards ovulation there is a window of opportunity, a period of time when certain factors can affect the health of the eggs that are preparing for ovulation.

The cycle of an egg in preparation for ovulation is around 90 days.Fertility Egg Cycle

Throughout this 90 day period before an egg is ovulated, the eggs are changing and preparing for ovulation. So at this time they are able to be affected, by both healthy and unhealthy influences. Some of the things that may affect your eggs can be:
•Circulation
•Proper oxygenation: Adequate exercise and outdoor activity
•Hormonal Balance
•Adequate Nutritional intake
•Stress
•Negative Lifestyle choices
•Anger, frustration
•Your level of health

There are influences to focus on for improving the health of your eggs.

When we have an understanding as to what is happening within our bodies, this will give us the support needed in becoming healthy.

Circulation and Proper Oxygenation

Oxygen rich blood flow to the ovaries is essential for good egg health. Blood flow can be compromised and decreased because of lack of exercise and outdoor activity, dehydration – lack of water intake: a high intake of sugary and saturated fatty foods will lead to stickiness and thickening of the blood.

Ways to improve your blood flow to the ovaries, these suggestions will also help you long term to prevent heart disease and other circulatory problems:

So following these suggestions are going to be so beneficial to YOU:

Get at least 8, 8oz. glasses of pure water every day. Dehydration can cause your blood to become thick and decrease circulation in the body, as well as many other issues. Make sure to drink purified water that is NOT bottled in plastic. An easy way to get a head start every morning, is to put a quart of water next to your bed when you go to sleep. You can then drink a quart of water upon rising and you are half way done with your water for the day.

Exercise

Find something to do that includes movement, such as tennis, walking, running, dancing, or yoga. Exercise increases the blood flow in the body, brings fresh blood to all of the cells and helps to oxygenate the blood.

Massage to support Fertility!

One of the best therapies for increasing blood flow to the reproductive system is by massaging your tummy area on a regular basis. I find that after having a shower it is great to give yourself a massage, it is also very beneficial for your skin as well. - Great start to the day! Massage helps to bring fresh, oxygenated blood to the ovaries and removes old stagnant blood. You may well want to book for a professional massage say once a month, there are many other health benefits to engaging with regular massage treatments.

Hormonal Balance

Hormonal balance is essential for proper egg health. Due to environmental factors, stress, and modern diets more and more women are becoming hormonally imbalanced. If hormonal balance is off the eggs may not respond, the fertility cycle gets out of balance, and ovulation may not occur. An intricate hormonal symphony is at play every month in preparation and fulfillment of the fertility cycle. But there is good news. Balancing your hormones is possible. Here are some ways to help balance your hormones and nourish the endocrine system.

Nutrition

During this window of opportunity, what you are eating can also impact the health of your ovaries and eggs either positively or negatively. It’s up to you. The types of nutrients your eggs depend on are found in a diet dense in nutrition.. Here are some quick food suggestions for supporting egg health:
Superfoods whether it be for fertility support or looking to be a healthier YOU: these are nutrient dense foods that help to nourish the body with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants. One of my favorite ways to take include these superfoods into my daily living is to put them in smoothies. Maca is an incredible fertility super food, along with all of your dark green vegetables. It helps to balance the hormones, but does not contain any hormones itself. It is able to do this by nourishing and balancing the endocrine system. This is essential in preparing for pregnancy and IVF because healthy hormonal balance greatly contributes to healthier eggs

Alkalize - your body by incorporating a diet with alkaline forming foods these will assist with detoxification, when our bodies become excessively toxic this can lead to tissue and organ damage. Antioxidants help to protect the egg and sperm from free radical damage. Free radicals are able to damage both cell health and the cell’s DNA, this could have an effect on the ability to get pregnant, sustain a healthy pregnancy and the chances of possible birth defects. The ovum (egg) are one of the longest living cells in your body, as the years pass they become exposed and vulnerable to free radicals on daily basis.

Antioxidant foods such as green tea, blue berries, lemon, dark green vegetables and fruit such as kiwi fruit, grapefruit are high in vitamin C therefore have great antioxidant properties.

Reducing Stress or Learning to Cope with Stress

We live in a fast paced world, there will always be lots of things happening that are out of our control so it is vitally important for our health, especially being a woman today may many blessings, one of them being a professional life. However this puts us in a place where we are constantly in a hurry and wanting to rush things so we are able to meet all of our commitments?

So, if you are trying to improve your egg health, chances of becoming pregnant then reducing and learning to manage your stress levels needs to be a major focus in your life. I will provide you with some ways to achieve this. The first thing that we need to do is to make this a priority, so therefore you will need to book quiet time in your calendar each day so you can

Here are some suggestions for you:
•Take a bubble bath (my favorite)
•Go for an early morning walk (This gives me a great start to the day)
•Cuddle up with a good book and also don’t forget to cuddle up with your partner
•Get a professional massage or reflexology treatment
•Drink some relaxing herbal tea, such as chamomile, passionflower, lavender or peppermint
•Meditate throughout the day, this can be as easy as just taking 10 minutes to just STOP what you are doing, close your eyes and focus on your breathing
•Overcome negative thought processes and activities by changing the way you think

Empowering You to Optimal Health Julie Doherty N.D