Getting your body and mind ready for fertility treatment
From our fertility clinic in Spain we like to collaborate with Andreia Trigo, a multi-awarded nurse consultant and fertility coach, in order to provide the necessary assistance to all our patients. Sometime ago she wrote 8 Reasons how Fertility Coaching can help you get pregnant in our blog, offering to our patients a free fertility coaching consultation with her.
In this occasion, her collaboration is focused on preparing body and mind for an IVF journey, giving us some tips to start the treatment as relaxed as possible.
How to get your body and mind ready for fertility treatment
Infertility is worsening, affecting 12% of the population and the World Health Organization considers infertility a global health issue with significant burden to populations.
In this article we discuss five ways to getting your body and mind ready for fertility treatment.
Understanding fertility
Having an understanding of how your body works, paying attention to changes you may notice, or whether a particular sign or symptom is unusual to you.
Understanding how fertility treatment works and how medication interacts with your body can help you feel more in control of the process. This knowledge will help you:
- Make informed choices about your fertility
- Help you stick with the treatment of your choice
- Increase chances of getting pregnant
Nutrition and hydration
Getting the right nutrients into your body is essential so your body has the energy to do its several bodily functions. This includes producing hormones, developing eggs and sperm, preparing the uterus for implantation, leading a pregnancy to term, and delivering a healthy baby.
Keeping hydrated with water and a healthy, well-balanced nutrition, with unprocessed foods and rich in fruit and vegetables is recommended.
Physical activity
Our bodies require a degree of activity to remain healthy. Moderate exercise for 30 minutes a day is usually recommended. If you are trying to conceive, research shows high frequency/intensity training is counterproductive as it can affect ovulation.
Habits and Environment
Certain habits and addictions, like too much caffeine, smoking or drinking can reduce egg and sperm quality. Our environment, like plastics and radiation can also affect fertility. Avoiding these can help you improve fertility.
Managing Emotions
Emotional distress is the first reason for patients to stop fertility treatment. Getting support during treatment can help you develop coping strategies, help you make challenging decisions, or improve communication with partners.
Andreia Trigo
Andreia Trigo (RN, BSc, and MSc) is the founder of inFertile Life, multi-awarded nurse consultant, fertility coach, author and TEDx speaker. Combining her fourteen-year medical experience, CBT, NLP and her own eighteen-year infertility journey, she has developed unique strategies to help people undergoing similar challenges achieve their reproductive goals. The Enhanced Fertility Programme is helping people worldwide and has been awarded Best Innovation in Business 2018 and E-Business of 2018.
Check her out at www.infertile-life.com.