📚How Sleep Increases Fertility

Today’s woman often skimps on sleep due to increasing demands at home and work. When a woman’s body is deprived of rest, she can experience weight gain, mood disorders, and increased stress levels. To enhance a woman’s fertility level, she must establish a healthy sleep pattern and get her circadian rhythm – and hormonal levels – in sync. The best part? Helping to increase your natural fertility level could be as simple as cutting out late-night TV binges or making adjustments to your work and/or social schedule.

Improving Your Fertility Level Through Sleep

According to the fertility specialists at New Hope Fertility NYC, women in their prime childbearing years (25 to 35) need 7 to 9 hours of quality sleep every night during a work week. The National Sleep Foundation has found through studies that sleep has a powerful influence on a woman’s reproductive hormonal system.

Sleep Deprivation: BMI – Mood – Stress

Sleep deprivation adversely affects your BMI, your mood, and your stress level. Your Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) level is directly affected by lack of sleep. Your FSH level should ideally be at its highest level just before you ovulate.

Let’s take a look into:

• Sleep and BMI
• Sleep and Mood
• Sleep and Stress

Women averaging 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night had a 20 percent higher FSH level than those who go 6 or fewer hours – regardless of age, BMI, mood, or stress level.

Bottom Line:

Enhancing your quantity and quality of sleep will increase your natural fertility level.

• Improve your BMI
• Improve your Mood
• Decrease your and stress level

Sleep and BMI

A healthy adult Body Mass Index (BMI) is between 18.5 and 24.9. Look: A 2016 review of studies shows that not getting enough sleep leads women to consume an average of 385 more calories the next day.

Here’s the real story about women who don’t get enough sleep.

• They gain weight
• The make less healthy food choices
• They eat foods higher in fat
• They eat low protein foods

Over a five year period, women can gain 2.1 BMI points for every hour of sleep they lose. Why is this important? A two pound weight gain can easily throw a woman off of her healthy BMI.

The takeaway. Sleep is an important moderator of neuroendocrine function and glucose metabolism. Sleep loss alters metabolic and endocrine alterations.

Sleep and Mood

Your quantity and quality of nightly sleep is directly connected with your mood when you wake. It can’t be emphasized enough, chronic insomnia increases the risk of developing a mood disorder – especially depression and/or anxiety.

Sleep-related mood disorders can be self-corrected through a variety of methods.

• Improved sleep habits
• Behavioral interventions
• Sleep assessments
• Mood disorder assessments

Look: Every woman realizes that she is more vulnerable to certain emotions after a sleepless night.

• More irritable
• Short-tempered
• Stressed out

It’s pretty common to realize that once you’ve had a good night’s sleep, your mood becomes stabilized throughout the next day.

A Harvard Sleep Study confirms that sleep deprivation has a significant adverse effect on one’s mood. University of Pennsylvania researchers found that limiting sleep to 4.5 hours per night for one week causes:

• Stress
• Anger
• Sadness
• Mental exhaustion

That’s not all. Making it even more difficult to sleep, disruptions in mood increase:

• Anxiety
• Agitation
• Arousal

These affects make it difficult to get to sleep and rest comfortably because you are awake and alert. These abnormally exaggerated responses to stress make one suffer from sleep deprivation.

Sleep and Stress

Stress keeps us alert and energetic. Although stress is an innate force helping us to perform at top level in our daily activities, too much tension and anxiety can cause a person to experience sleep deprivation. Stress is a natural response to daily life.

Here’s the catch. Too much stress causes:

• Sleep deprivation
• Depression
• Tension
• Anxiety
• Lack of concentration
• Apathy
• Inadvertent mistakes

You must manage your stress to enhance your reproductive health and overall well-being. The amount of stress a woman experiences while undergoing In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) treatment can be determinative of pregnancy success or failure.

That’s not all. Research has shown that stress can reduce your chances of conceiving through IVF. Stress has been linked to an egg’s ability to be fertilized and an embryo’s ability to implant in a woman’s uterine lining. Studies have shown that women undergoing IVF with anxiety had fewer eggs retrieved and fewer embryos implanting successfully.

Bottom Line: Lessening stress levels will help to increase your chances of a successful IVF cycle.

Improving Fertility with Quality Sleep

The fertility specialists at New Hope Fertility NYC recommend some simple approaches to achieve quality sleep. These measures will help with relaxation at the desired time sleep is needed.

The take away:

• Maintain a comfortable sleep environment
• Encourage a balance of nutrition and exercise

Implement a strict sleep schedule and stick to it. The human body flourishes on routine. Having a regular schedule of when you fall asleep and awake will help your body regulate its internal clock. Designate a time you normally feel tired. Making a scheduled bed time will keep you from spending a lot of time struggling to fall asleep. Keep your sleep schedule consistent on the weekends and holidays.

• Maintain a regular sleep-wake schedule
• Avoid caffeine, alcohol, nicotine – these interfere with sleep
• Make your sleeping space comfortable
• Establish a calming pre-sleep routine – avoid stimulating news or entertainment
• Go to sleep when you are tired – don’t watch the clock and procrastinate rest
• Limit your light exposure in the evening – turn off the TV
• Limit eating and drinking before retiring to bed – let your stomach rest
• Exercise regularly – 30 minutes per day – but not before bedtime

It is important to work with a fertility care team having the experience to accurately diagnose the underlying cause of your infertility. If you enjoyed this article please check out this blogger for more interesting topics.