Fertility and how your sleeping habits could be affecting it!
We often hear about sleeping and fertility or more annoyingly how irregular sleeping habits can make us fat! Well, there is a reason for this, and it’s to do with hormones. Most hormone secretion is controlled by our circadian rhythm of which sleep plays a major role in. This process is easily disrupted by lack of sleep, late nights, shift work, etc.
When the production of Melatonin and Cortisol are affected during this time we can feel a ‘jet lag’ feeling the following day. During sleep our bodies work hard to repair cells and regulate hormones such as Leptin which is an important link between sleep and fertility. Without proper Leptin production menstrual cycles can become irregular. Moreover, sleep, or lack of, affects important fertility hormones such as estrogen, progesterone, LH and FSH, and I’m sure you’re all aware of the importance of these!
- Try to keep to a similar sleeping pattern each night and have at least 7-8 hrs of sleep nightly
- exercise helps us sleep, but not too close to bed time
- avoid coffee in the evenings
- wind down and relax before bedtime (turn of TV and other devices)
- put your feet up the wall and lie on the floor for 10 min (this slows the heart rate down)
- try some camomile tea or warm almond milk
- a heaped tsp of magnesium powder in a small glass of water before bed can help
So, the thing to remember is try to create good habits at the end of the day…create some quiet time…put down the phone, turn off the TV and really get set for a good night sleep. Your body will thank you and in the morning you will be rewarded by feeling great and getting off to a good start. Have a great night sleep!!
Visit us at The Fertility Pod – Acupuncture & Nutrition for more information…we’re here to help you on your journey!
Nite, Nite…
