Chioma Umeha
Trying to conceive is one big waiting game – you
never know if this will be month that pregnancy test turns positive. But
thankfully there are a few ways to help boost your odds of getting pregnant.
Sure, you can track your cycle and follow all the baby-making tricks in the
book, but sometimes what you don’t do is just as important as what you do.
Here, we break down foods, activities and habits to avoid when trying to
conceive.
Smoking
You are probably already planning on quitting
smoking once you get pregnant (and you definitely should), but avoiding
cigarettes now will be a huge benefit too. According to the American Society
for Reproductive Medicine, it takes longer for smokers to conceive, and smoking
makes a woman’s eggs more prone to genetic abnormalities.
Smoking increases the risk of miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy. In
fact, the habit wreaks so much havoc on fertility that female smokers who have
in vitro fertilization (IVF) have to attempt it almost twice as many times as
nonsmoking women do in order to conceive. Oh, and your partner should quit
smoking too – research shows that
men who smoke cigarettes have
lower sperm count and motility (swimming speed), and more sperm abnormalities.
Too much caffeine
Relax: You don’t have to cut out your morning cup
of coffee. But if you consume more than 200 milligrams of caffeine – that is
about one to two eight-ounce cups – per day, you should ease up. Heavy caffeine
consumption has been associated with fertility problems – in fact, one study
found that women who consumed more than the equivalent of one cup of coffee per
day were half as likely to become pregnant, per cycle, as women who drank less.
Plus, you won’t want to overdo it during pregnancy
(caffeine interferes with your ability to absorb iron, can dehydrate you and,
in high doses, can increase miscarriage and preterm birth risk), so it’s worth cutting back now.
Excessive drinking
Sorry to break the news, but you might want to
skip your friends’ evening bar crawl while you’re trying to conceive, or at
least stick to sparkling water while you’re there. That’s because drinking to
excess (more than two drinks each day) is linked to irregular periods, lack of
ovulation and abnormal estrogen and progesterone levels, which can make it
harder to conceive. Plus, if you’re charting your basal body temperature, it
can make it challenging to get accurate temp readings.
The other reason why you might want to miss the
alcohol? Drinking during pregnancy is widely frowned upon, since it puts baby
at risk for fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, and it’ll take about two weeks
(or more) after you conceive to know you’re actually pregnant. Consider asking
your partner to limit his alcohol intake too, since there’s evidence that even
moderate drinking (five drinks a week) can reduce his sperm quality.
Extremes In Weight
Do you think you might be extremely overweight or
underweight? Calculate your body mass index (BMI) using this tool now. Having a
low BMI (18.5 or less) or a very high BMI (over 30) could cause you to have
irregular or missed periods, and being extremely underweight could make you
stop ovulating altogether. Obesity can increase the risk of pregnancy
complications such as gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, birth defects and the
need for a c-section. So it’s important to be at a healthy weight when you are
trying to conceive.
If you fall into either of these categories, talk
to your doctor about how to get to a healthy weight. You will want to eat
right, getting plenty of nutrients, exercise and drink plenty of water. Often,
even a small weight gain or loss is enough to get your body ready to make a
baby, as long as it is done healthily
Skipping the veggies
The jury’s out on whether certain foods actually
make you more fertile, but there’s one thing the experts agree on: If your
body’s in a healthy state, you’re more likely to conceive, so eating right is
essential. The other important reason to say no to the fries and yes to the
spinach salad is folic acid. This B vitamin is found in leafy greens and is
important to have present in your body before and after conception to prevent
birth defects. Doctors recommend you also take a vitamin with at least 400
micrograms of folic acid while you’re trying to conceive.
Neglecting your teeth
If you have been lax about dental hygiene, now’s
the time to get back on track with your dentist appointments and make sure
you’re flossing. You and your partner should both get your pearly whites
super-healthy before you get pregnant. Poor oral hygiene can affect a man’s
sperm count, and if you have gum disease, it could increase your risk of a premature delivery and
low-birth-weight baby. Yikes!
The reason poor dental hygiene can negatively
affect fertility is due to the increased risk of periodontal disease (gum
disease) and tooth decay.
Being a couch potato
Keep making excuses not to exercise? Stop! One
study found that doing regular, moderate physical activity – like brisk walking, leisurely
cycling, golfing and gardening – cut down the amount of time it took women to
get pregnant.
Extreme exercise
You want to stay fit, but you do not want to
overdo it. In the same study we mentioned above, vigorous exercise increased
the amount of time it took women to get pregnant. We are not saying to skip
your morning run if that’s what you
have always done, but working out to the point of interfering with your
menstrual cycle, as some marathon runners and gymnasts experience, can mess
with your fertility.
BPA
You may want to take a hard look at what your
water bottle is made of. BPA, aka bisphenol A, is a chemical found in some
plastic items, such as water bottles, food containers and even in the lining of
aluminum cans. Some studies have led scientists to believe that high BPA
exposure could mess with men’s and women’s fertility, potentially lowering
sperm count or reducing the number of viable eggs. Limit your BPA exposure by
avoiding canned foods and avoiding consuming anything from a plastic container
with the recycling number three or
seven on it (usually on the bottom of the container).
Stressing out
We have all got a little bit of stress in our
lives, and experts disagree on whether stress can cause infertility. But
there’s evidence that chronic or intense stress can do a number on your
reproductive system – one study found that women with higher levels of the
stress biomarker had a two-fold increased risk of infertility. And of course,
having trouble getting pregnant can cause quite a bit of stress! So if you feel
that your stress levels might be affecting your health and your ability to
conceive, talk to your doctor about ways to cope. Several studies have found
that alternative medicines, such as yoga and acupuncture, have actually
shortened the time it took for infertility patients to get pregnant.
High-mercury fish
Some fish are higher in mercury than others – most
notably marlin, orange roughy, tilefish, swordfish, shark, king mackerel and
bigeye tuna. High levels of mercury in the blood have been linked to fertility
issues in both men and women.
Also, mercury can stay in your system for a year or
more, and can harm a fetus’s developing brain and nervous system, so avoiding
it will increase your chances of a healthy pregnancy.
Love seafood? There’s plenty that’s considered
low-mercury, including anchovies, catfish, clams, cod, crab, crawfish, flounder,
haddock, herring, oysters, salmon, sardines, scallops, shrimp, sole, squid,
tilapia, trout, whitefish and more.
You can have two to three four-ounce servings of
low-mercury seafood per week while pregnant.
