Lifestyle Factors are all about managing what you have, rather than excluding or making dramatic changes. It’s possible to directly change five of the six factors, which then alter the impact of the sixth (age) on fertility levels.
Lifestyle choices can dramatically improve or worsen health and fertility, and enhancing your health through lifestyle brings significant benefits to your children’s health and fertility. Personalised information on lifestyle, including building emotional resilience and weight management, is part of the morefertile® personal fertility profiles (PFPs), which identify ways for each of us to maximise our fertility.
The six lifestyle factors morefertile® covers are:
1. Age
When to have children is usually a choice, and being over certain ages reduces the fertility levels of both sexes. Although age is non-negotiable, reducing its impact on fertility is possible.
2. Emotions
Emotions and the balance of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) are intertwined, and the ANS has crucial roles in fertility dynamics and hormone levels. Improving emotional balance raises fertility and general health.
3. Exercise
Exercise affects energy levels, hormone balance, temperature and circulation. The type and amount of exercise must fit personal needs as either extreme can dramatically reduce fertility.
4. Microbiome
The microbiome is a relatively recent addition to the fertility story, but it’s proving to be very significant for fertility, as well as mental and physical well-being.
5. Oxidative stress
Oxidative stress (OS) is involved in inflammatory processes that reduce the health of cells and organ function throughout the body. Managing OS is often a crucial factor for couples trying to conceive.
6. Weight
Being average weight usually equates to greater fertility and healthier children compared to weight extremes. Being able to manage weight brings significant benefits for parents and their children.
Photo by Kalen Emsley on Unsplash
