Intended Parents: Is Exercise Affecting your Fertility?
Could your infertility be caused by too much exercise?
Today we are going to discuss the IVF process and fertility issues related to exercise.
It’s not common to hear that the type of exercise could affect your fertility, though many articles will tell you that increasing fertility can come with the age-old “diet and exercise”. While this may be true that women having a healthy weight may increase her fertility, exercise and cardiovascular activity could pose a threat to the success of your IVF treatments.
If you’ve successfully been exercising and dieting- yet you still are experiencing decreased fertility as well as not responding well to your IVF treatments, consider the following:
#1 – Decreased rates of conception are tracked with “too much” exercise
How much is too much?
Well, this is still a debated question in the IVF circles.
However, studies show that increased physical activity can decrease fertility and IVF success rates. If you’re a regular exerciser- you may want to learn to curb back your extreme exercise while undergoing your fertility treatments via IVF.
#2 – High Impact Exercise could be part of that “too much”
What does this include? Running long and hard. Certain HIIT exercises which include ball slams, burpees, swinging with a sledgehammer or tire flipping (you get the idea).
This should seem self-explanatory but doing these types of high impact exercising can affect your reproductive health (due to impacts to your body) especially if you have just undergone IVF through transfer. Women who are parents or surrogate mothers who have just gone through the transfer process are not encouraged to exercise at all for the first few days after the procedure- especially not exercise with high intensity!
#3 – You don’t have to ditch exercise completely
Remember, there are exercises considered “low-impact”.
Take the elliptical, for example, the bike, stretching, yoga, weight lifting of some kinds, and maybe even growing at a slower pace on the Concept-2. We aren’t saying all exercise is bad, just that you need to take it easy for purposes of your IVF treatment.
#4 – Try not to exercise the week of IVF transfer or egg retrieval
For the reasons mentioned above, you don’t want too much impact on your body during this critical phase of the IVF process.
You may not feel like working out or running your usual mile or 5 miles- mostly because your fertility medication will probably affect how you feel. Keep in mind that this is just fine if you feel lazy or not like doing much exercising.
This article is to get you to realize that for once in your life- not over-exercising or even worrying about exercise the week of your IVF treatment may be your best idea yet! (I know counter-intuitive right?)
#5 – Life is a marathon- IVF is a sprint
If it helps you go-getter women out there who want can’t wait to become a mother and you’re in excellent shape or you’re getting back into shape- your IVF treatment and egg retrieval will not be a marathon.
This is a short period in your life where you need to remember that taking it easy on your exercise now may help increase your fertility and your chances of success.
Thank you for reading the Made in the USA Surrogacy blog.
If you’ve reached this blog, you are either a parent looking for a surrogate, or currently looking for help finding a surrogate. Or you are a potential surrogate mother researching the ins-and-outs of becoming a surrogate.
Whatever your reason for reaching our blog, we want you to feel like our blog is a resource for your surrogacy journey. Keep looking through our posts for information on becoming a surrogate, the surrogacy process, intended parent process, looking or hiring a surrogate or information regarding your infertility. We discuss all things surrogacy on this blog, and we welcome clients whether parents looking for surrogates in the Los Angeles area, San Francisco, surrogates in California.
Also, we accept surrogate prospects from all places in the US, especially California surrogates. Wherever or whatever your situation is, we want to find you the right surrogate as soon as we can!
If you are wanting to be a parent or a woman who thinks that you ultimately will need a surrogate, or you think you should start looking for a surrogate, there’s no better time than to start with our agency. While you’re undergoing IVF treatment for egg retrieval, we will be making it happen for you and your family to find a surrogate. Contact our surrogate agency in California today.
If you’re a potential surrogate mother and it would make you extremely happy to give back the gift of life that you enjoy every day with your children- don’t hesitate to fill in our contact form.
We have a need for surrogate moms in every state that is surrogacy friendly, especially surrogates in California.
