If you’re struggling with fertility issues or just want to increase your chances of conceiving, understanding inflammation and how it can impact egg and sperm health is essential. In this post, we’ll explore what inflammation is, what causes it, and how you can reduce inflammation to optimize your fertility.
What is Inflammation?
When you hear the word “inflammation,” you might envision a creepy guy in a cape firing off radioactive laser rays inside your body. Or is it just me? IRL, inflammation is a natural process that your immune system uses to find and deal with things that don’t belong, like viruses, toxins, and damaged cells.
Think of inflammation as part of the garbage truck system of your body. It finds waste and then recruits inflammatory markers, like cytokines, to get rid of it. This process can cause redness, swelling, and heat, like when you get an infection. Inflammation is essential for healing your body.
Unfortunately, sometimes the balance between inflammation and healing gets thrown off, leading to chronic inflammation and oxidative stress. This imbalance can cause tissue damage, chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and cancers, and even makes us age faster.
Reduce Inflammation
Reducing inflammation is critical for optimal health, including fertility. The good news is that you can take steps today to reduce inflammation and improve your chances of conceiving. Here are five practical things you can do:
- Increase Antioxidants: Antioxidants are essential for preventing damage caused by free radicals, which are byproducts of good things like breathing and exercise, as well as toxins, pollution, stress, and certain types of food. Foods rich in antioxidants include fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, lean protein, fish, extra virgin olive oil, nuts, and seeds. This article covers it in more detail.
- Eat a Balanced Diet: Focus on eating a balanced diet that includes a variety of nutrient-dense whole foods. Avoid processed and sugary foods that can contribute to inflammation.
- Maintain a Healthy Weight: Being overweight, obese, or underweight can increase inflammation and contribute to fertility issues. Maintain a healthy weight through a balanced diet and regular exercise.
- Manage Stress: Chronic stress can contribute to inflammation and negatively impact fertility. Practice stress management techniques like yoga, meditation, or deep breathing exercises.
- Get Enough Sleep: Lack of sleep can increase inflammation and contribute to fertility issues. Aim for 7-8 hours of quality sleep each night.
Inflammation and Fertility
Several conditions, like endometriosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome, celiac disease, being overweight or underweight, thyroid disease, and chronic stress, can produce higher levels of free radicals and contribute to inflammation. Research on the direct impact of inflammation on conception and pregnancy is still in its early days. However, reducing inflammation can have positive benefits on related aspects of fertility.
For example, the right kind of food can reduce endometriosis pain, increase the regularity of periods, and reduce male-type hormones and insulin resistance found in PCOS. High levels of cytokines, a type of inflammatory marker, in the abdomen, have been associated with increased DNA damage in eggs, potentially impacting fertility. High levels of inflammatory markers can also increase the risk of testosterone deficiency, which equals low sperm production. Certain types of foods and antioxidants can improve the quality, count, and mobility of sperm.
Take steps to reduce your inflammation today
Reducing inflammation is essential for optimal health, including fertility. By following these five practical steps, you can reduce inflammation and increase your chances of conceiving. Focus on eating a balanced diet rich in antioxidants, maintaining a healthy weight, managing stress, getting enough sleep, and avoiding processed and sugary foods.
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