Getting Pregnant After the Age of 30 & what you can do to boost your fertility
Did someone tell you that women over the age 30 have a harder time getting pregnant and it stressed you out?
Thirty, the supposed age when infertility begins to set in, has long been a feared number among women. This is a common misconception, aggravated by studies such as the one from the American Society for Reproductive Medicine in 2001 that warned that fertility began to decrease after age 27. As a result, the prevailing belief is that a woman's likelihood of conceiving falls off a cliff once she's on the other side of 30.
The truth is, that's not actually the case.
Dr. Jean Twenge at The Atlantic not only dispels that myth, but also explains the frighteningly bad science behind it. For one, she points out that a popular statistic that one in three women ages 35 to 39 cannot get pregnant after a year of trying is based on French birth records from 1670 to 1830.
Studies conducted with actual women during the 21st century show a very different fertility picture. Twenge cites a 2004 study published in Obstetrics & Gynecology that showed 82% of women ages 35 to 39 conceived within a year of having sex at least twice a week, not much lower than the 86% of women ages 27 to 34 under the same conditions.
Another study Twenge cites from Fertility and Sterility showed that 78% of women ages 35 to 40 got pregnant within a year of having sex during their fertile times, compared with 84% of women ages 20 to 34.
So, there's a drop, but hardly one that should send you into a panic. Our fertility does decline with age, but it’s more accurate that our fertility significantly drops in our 40s. Not in our 30s.
It turns out that age is not the only factor impacting our fertility.
And there is a lot you can do to boost your fertility.
The conventional thinking is that women are born with all the eggs they’ll ever have and that the quality of those eggs declines drastically with age. But this is not the whole story.
Folliculogenesis - the process of how eggs grow and mature in our ovaries.
Most of our lives, our eggs are paused in a state of being immature cells, but in the three months before it’s ovulated, an egg must undergo a major transformation. It grows dramatically in size and starts producing much more energy. The egg must then execute a precise process of separating and ejecting copies of chromosomes. If this process goes wrong, and it often does, the egg will have chromosomal abnormalities.
These chromosomal abnormalities are the single most important cause of early miscarriages as well as the reason it takes older women so much longer to conceive.
Egg Quality
Research shows that only good quality eggs are likely to become good-quality embryos that can survive that critical first week and successfully implant to result in pregnancy. So you’re more likely to get pregnant if you have good quality eggs. And you’re also more likely to stay pregnant, and less likely to have a miscarriage.
It takes about three months for an immature egg to develop into a mature egg ready for ovulation, and this is the crucial window of time for preserving and enhancing egg quality.
Many women are told there is little they can do to improve egg quality, but the latest research defies that old assumption. The growth phase before an egg is ovulated is a critical time during which many things can happen that affect the quality of the egg, both positively and negatively. These include harmful effects from exposure to toxins as well as protective effects from antioxidants and other nutrients. As a result, there is a brief window of opportunity in which you can make a difference to your egg quality.
What can you do to boost your fertility?
Here’s the great news. You can influence the quality of eggs that you ovulate a couple of months from now because chromosomal errors in those eggs have probably not occurred yet.
The research is there to show that food and nutrition and lifestyle change our conception factors, egg quality, and fertility.
A study from the Harvard School of Public Health monitored the fat consumption of 147 women undergoing IVF treatment, and discovered that those who ate the highest amounts of monounsaturated fat (found in avocados) were 3.4 times more likely to have a child after IVF.
Another study found that women who drink five or more cups of coffee a day actually halve their chances of getting pregnant via IVF, and women who limited their coffee consumption to less than 100mg (1 cup) a day had the best chances of conceiving.
The key takeaway from these studies is this: what you consume has a direct impact on your fertility and your pregnancy outcomes. What you do can make a difference!
By changing your diet you can energize your egg and reduce inflammation - important ways to prime your body for pregnancy. That’s what the Becoming Mama program will cover and show you how to do with clear simple strategies and action steps.
I want to tell you about some research and strategies to boost your fertility that you put into action right away.
Timing - start three months BEFORE trying to conceive
I recommend preparing for pregnancy at least 90 days before starting to try. Your ovaries are constantly maturing eggs, but the last 90 days of the maturing process are the most crucial. This is the period of time that what you do, what you eat & drink, your stress levels, health and blood flow will have an impact on the health of that egg. So what you eat today is affecting the egg you will ovulate three months from now. So for best impact, prepare at least 90 days out.
Think of this this time as a “Premester” when you are preparing the soil before your plant your seeds. Just like when you are starting a garden, you begin by preparing the soil before you plant. First you remove any weeds or rocks, then you add nutrients and minerals, ensuring the seeds will have everything they need to grow and thrive.
This guide will help you optimize your chance of successful pregnancy and healthy baby!
Here are the steps I recommend:
1. Balance your Endocrine System & Hormones
Your endocrine system is the system of glands in your body that produces hormones. Our monthly cycle is a complex interplay of almost every gland in the Endocrine System.
Producing an egg, allowing fertilization, developing a suitable environment for implantation, and maintaining a pregnancy require a series of complex and interrelated events. If any part is off kilter by even a tiny bit, it can affect our fertility.
In order for your hormones to do their jobs, they have to work in harmony together to achieve balance. And they can’t be in balance if any of them are out of whack. Your endocrine system is always striving to self-regulate and remain in equilibrium.
When your body is inundated with stressors or endocrine disruptors, like our highly processed modern diet or our non-stop demanding lives, it makes it harder for your endocrine system to function. And this impacts how much estrogen and testosterone, growth hormones, hunger hormones, stress hormones, fat-burning hormones, energy and libido hormones, and sleep hormones your endocrine system makes.
I’m here to tell you that you can fix this. And it’s not difficult. With little but consistent lifestyle tweaks and changes, you can address the issue that caused the imbalance, and get your body working in the exact way it was designed to function, and restore your optimal health and fertility.
2. Avoid Harmful Toxins & Boost your Detoxification pathways
AVOID BPA - BPA, which stands for Bisphenol A, has been proven to compromise egg quality and fertility. This chemical is still commonly used in everything from plastic food containers to paper receipts, despite studies showing its health dangers.
A study published in 2012 by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health that found that women with higher BPA levels in their bloodstream produced fewer eggs and embryos in an IVF cycle, and their embryos were less likely to implant and lead to a pregnancy.
Throw out your plastic water bottles, coffee mugs, and tupperware, buy glass or stainless steel ones instead. Don’t microwave in plastic or saran wrap.
Choose organic whenever possible to avoid harmful chemicals and pesticides that can affect your hormones.
Boost your Pathways of Detoxification.
Detoxifying is the way through which our body gets rid of all those harmful toxins- this process occurs naturally in our body all the time. But the problem emerges when we intake more toxins than our body detox machine can efficiently handle.
Make sure that you’re supporting your liver and natural pathways of detoxification so that your body can effectively handle and eliminate the normal toxins in our lives, and not let them disrupt your endocrine system and fertility.
3. Eat a healthy fertility diet to give your eggs the specific nutrients they need
One of the most impactful steps you can take when preparing for IVF pregnancy is to eat a nutrient dense fertility diet.
The following foods are especially packed with fertility-boosting nutrients:
Eat a low inflammation diet by minimizing sugar, carbs, and processed & fried foods.
On top of eating a healthy diet, it's important to supplement wisely to ensure you have the nutrients you need. These are the supplements I recommend to boost egg quality and make sure you have the necessary micronutrients you need to increase your chances of conception, a healthy pregnancy, and healthy baby:
4.Get Acupuncture
Acupuncture not only helps with stress, it supports and encourages egg health, healthy reproductive circulation, a healthy uterine lining, hormonal balance and much more. Studies show that acupuncture increases pregnancy success rates. It’s best to start acupuncture at least 3 months prior to when you start trying to conceive.
5. Get Exercise
Another great way to increase circulation to the uterus and ovaries is to exercise regularly. But don't over-do it, aim for 30-45 minutes several times a week.
6. Mitigate the Affects of Stress on Your Fertility
Trying to get pregnant can be stressful and overwhelming. Trying your best to keep calm, centered, and relaxed through the process will help.
The Circle + Bloom Meditation Program consists of visualizations and guided meditations to reduce stress and potentially increase pregnancy success.
7. The Becoming Mama Program
The Becoming Mama Program The Becoming Mama Program walks you through all the research, strategies, and steps to proactively ensure the chances of successful pregnancy and decrease the chances of miscarriage.
It shows you how to:
- restore balance to your endocrine & hormone system
- replenish micronutrient stores
- mitigate the effects of stress on your fertility
- boost your detoxification pathways
- eat to support your hormonal health and egg quality with recipes
- and so much more
You can sign up today for Becoming Mama and have access to this powerful information. All the training are available now, there are over 24 videos, 16 worksheets. You can get started today for just $397. I wanted to make sure that this course is incredibly affordable for the people who need it the most. You can get the entire program, it’s ready for you right now.
This program has helped a lot of women to become mothers. We will break it down step by step to make sure we’re optimizing all these factors for conception. It’s easy to follow, comprehensive and effective. And it can go along with what you already doing – whether it’s acupuncture and herbs or IVF. This information is essential and important no matter what route you are taking.
I want you to know what’s possible when you restore your health and focus on enhancing your fertility naturally. You can be a mama. It’s time for you to take charge of your own fertility. This system takes all the guesswork out of it and gives you clear strategies and guidelines that are backed by science. It's powerful information that I'm excited to share with you.
To learn more about boosting your fertility, sign up for my FREE REPORT:
FREE REPORT: 6 Smart Strategies to Boost Your Fertility
