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Boost your fertility
If you want to improve your chances of conceiving, the place to start is your diet and lifestyle. Dr Sarah Brewer, author of Planning A Baby: A Complete Guide to Preconceptual Care, explains how
Food, glorious food
You've heard it all before, but it really is crucial to eat a healthy diet supplying at least five servings of fruit and vegetables per day, and preferably eight to ten for vitamins, minerals, trace elements and antioxidants. As a nutritional safety net, you may like to take a multivitamin and mineral supplement especially designed for pregnancy or pre-pregnancy, too.
Weighty issues
Women in the healthy weight range for their height find it easier to conceive spontaneously than those who are significantly under or over weight. Why being overweight affects ovulation and fertility is not fully understood, but is thought to involve effects on hormone balance, insulin resistance and glucose control. Weight loss in sub-fertile women who are overweight increases the chance of both spontaneous conception and conception after fertility treatment. However, you should avoid sudden weight loss and crash dieting which is harmful for the health of you and your baby. Gradual, maintained weight loss will mean you're onto a winner.
Get moving
Regular exercise can boost fertility, especially if you are overweight, by improving insulin resistance and glucose control. Aim to take at least 30 minutes of exercise every day that is brisk enough to raise a light sweat and leave you slightly breathless. If you are relatively unfit, start your fitness programme with a brisk, walking regime.
Have a check-up
Have a sexual health check-up at a genito-urinary medicine (GUM) clinic. Some sexually transmissible infections, such as Chlamydia, may cause few symptoms but can reduce fertility if allowed to progress to pelvic inflammatory disease. A common vaginal bacterial imbalance (bacterial vaginosis) can increase the risk of miscarriage and pre-term labour as much as five fold.
Smoke signals
If you smoke, do your utmost to stop. If you cannot stop, then at least cut right down. Women who smoke ten or more cigarettes per day are three times more likely to experience difficulty in conceiving than non-smokers.
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