Do you get 8 hours of sleep at night? If not, you might be compromising your fertile health. The quantity and quality of your sleep affects your health, mood, hormones and fertility. Fertility specialists recommend that women sleep 8 to 9 hours each night in order to boost fertility.
Sleep heals and restores your body
While you sleep, your body is busy repairing cells and regulating hormones, among many other processes. One special hormone, leptin, is a key link between sleep and fertility.
Ovulation and sleep
Leptin affects ovulation, and women need adequate sleep for proper leptin production. When leptin production is compromised, menstrual cycles are disrupted.
Sleep also affects other fertility hormones including progesterone, estrogen, luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). And if you’re suffering from insomnia this not only affects your hormones but can potentially causes premature aging too.
To boost fertility, reduce stress
While it’s speculated that stress does not cause infertility, an infertility diagnosis can create tremendous stress that affects mood, sleep, and fertility.
When people are under chronic stress, their sleep habits are affected. Feelings of anxiety and depression can arise. Studies show that fertility patients diagnosed with anxiety and depression have lower rates of in vitro fertilization (IVF) success.
Doctors recognize cortisol levels are often affected by the daily stress of a hectic lifestyle. High cortisol levels prevent you from relaxing and getting quality sleep. Among infertility patients, studies have shown increased rates of conception when stress is reduced. And the best ways to manage stress are yoga, deep breathing, acupuncture and acupressure – all the ways we’ll be sharing with you on our free webinar tomorrow:How to Lower FSH Naturally and Refresh Your Fertility on the First Day of Spring.