Optimize Male Fertility!
Why is it always put on us ladies?
When you hear someone is experiencing infertility or having difficulties getting pregnant we automatically assume it's due to issues with the women, right? I even thought this before I dove deep into learning about preconception and preparing our bodies for pregnancy!
This topic, preparing for pregnancy, is a HUGE topic and honestly one of my favorites! I created an entire self paced online course all about preparing your body and your partner's body so you can get pregnant faster, feel amazing while pregnant, grow the healthiest baby possible and have a beautiful postpartum experience!
BUT today, we are just going to be talking about our male partner’s fertility!!
Have you heard of 30/30/30/10 ratios?
Fertility statistics say, on average that 30% of couples experiencing infertility is due to the female, 30% is due to the male, 30% is the compatibility of the couple and 10% is “unknown”.
Male Fertility is on the Decline
Many reports and studies are showing that men in their 20’s-30s have significantly less testosterone than their fathers generation did at the same age. This is a really scary trend. Testosterone is critical for the development of optimal sperm! Low testosterone leads to low sperm count, motility (their ability to swim) and overall quality of the sperm!
Now, I don't know about you but I wanted to make sure the sperm and egg that connected to make our baby were the healthiest and best egg and sperm we could be producing! All I kept thinking was, the healthier the egg and sperm that make our baby, the healthier our baby is going to be! So I was on a mission to make sure I was making the healthiest eggs possible every month and that my husband, Chris, was doing his part as well by making the healthiest little swimmers every month!
“All I kept thinking was, the healthier the egg and sperm that make our baby, the healthier our baby is going to be! ”
BUT did you know….
It takes 90-100 days to affect the quality of your egg?
It takes 30-40 days to affect the quality of sperm?
So what you do today, will affect the health of your egg in about 3 months and what your partner does today will affect the quality of their sperm in about one month... it takes time my friends!! This is WHY preparing for pregnancy is sooo important! It matters for the health of you, your partner and your soon to be new addition!
Ps. it's never too early or too late to start optimizing your health to get pregnant! I recommend preparing for a minimum of 3 months but 12 months is optimal!! I prepared for well over 12 months and my husband started preparing about 6 months before!
Isn’t this picture the best!! I love it, totally makes me laugh!!
Okay, I got side tracked again…. Back to our male partners!!
What Contributes to Poor Male Fertility
AND
What Can you Do About it!
Here are some of the most common things that contribute to poor male fertility and what you can do today to have a positive impact!!
Exposure to EDC’s
EDC’s are chemicals found in our personal care products, household products, our environment, in the air and even in our food. They are chemicals that interfere with our hormones and basically messing them up! Big culprits that contribute to the decline in testosterone are EDC’s from plastics like plastic water bottles, plastic food storage containers, plastic cutting boards, plastic cups, etc! Here is a blog post talking about easy kitchen item swaps to make your hormones and your partners hormones happy!
What can you do about it?!
Swap your plastic for glass, stainless steel, wooden or ceramic! Making this switch can be expensive so do it slowly and over time. It's also super super beneficial for your whole family's health!
From plastic water bottles to stainless steel!!
Sedentary Lifestyle
Our world now is built to be sedentary. The majority of our jobs and careers are desk jobs meaning we spend all of our day sitting! (Me included… once you get into a rhythm you just cant stop eh?!) After sitting all day the majority of us come home, exhausted and want to just sit down and watch netflix… which we all know just makes us feel worse!! This is the cycle we get into as adults. Its crappy and takes effort to change but its so worth it!
What can you do about it?!
Find an activity that you like to do, that truly brings you joy! This will make you more successful in keeping up with a movement routine! It doesn't have to be anything wild, even just a walk after dinner or at lunch! Any movement will do wonders for male fertility AND also our fertility!
From netflix and chilling to walking!
Inadequate Sleep
Staying up late scrolling on our phones or watching TV is normal these days, isn't it? Waking up a few times in the night, or tossing and turning all night is also pretty common. Then waking up feeling so exhausted and like total crap is once again super common after the terrible sleep you just had! There are sooo many things we can do to help get a better nights sleep and it will do WONDERS for your mood, inflammation, blood sugar, cognitive function and most importantly our partners fertility!! Check out this blog post all about how sleep and our females hormones are connected!
What can you do about it?!
Implementing an evening routine, getting exercise and doing some daily calming practices likes deep breathing throughout the day can start you down a path of improving your sleep! Also reducing your blue light exposure in the evening with blue light blocking glasses or blue light blocking apps on your phone as well as exposing your face, skin and eyes to sunlight in the morning! This will help regulate your sleep and awake cycles, signaling the right hormones at the right time!
From being sleepy all day to exposing your face and skin to sun first thing in the morning!
Chronic Stress
Stress, stress, stress and more stress… who knew this is what adulthood would be like!? Okay, we did have some idea but things just seem to pile on with work and in your personal life, right? AND to add on.. A pandemic (currently writing this over a year into the pandemic…)! Stress is everywhere and to be totally honest with you, its unavoidable! You will always have stress in your life and if someone tells you differently than they are pulling the wool over your eyes! Stress won't go away but we can learn how to respond to it vs. reacting to it. This is what really matters and will have a positive impact on your health. Want to know how stress effects our hormones as women, check this out.
What can you do about it?!
Learning coping strategies is a great place to start. Deep breathing is the best tool for this! Its free and always with you! So when you encounter a stressful situation you can take a moment, check in with yourself, ground yourself through your breath and then respond instead of reacting. Another great way to help us with our chronic stress is to focus on our “circle of concern”. I am sure you have heard this before? Its basically the things that you actually have control over. There is no sense in worrying about things that you have zero control over. Maybe think about those things and then allow them to move out of your mind. Acknowledge them and note there is nothing you can do to change them so switch your attention to the things you can control!
From stressed to feeling pure bliss!
Overweight
Fat is hormonally active. This means that fat has the ability to produce estrogen creating imbalances in our hormones and negatively impacting the delicate balance that we as women have and that our male partners have! It affects men and women in different ways. It affects men by throwing off the balance of estrogen and testosterone, ultimately lowering testosterone. This is a really hard issue to combat in our society because we are bombarded with “food like products” instead of real whole food. We are busier than ever, more stressed than ever and fake food is cheap, fast, and easily accessible! They make it easy for us to choose those foods.
What can you do about this?!
Don't focus on the number on the scale, or how you look! This is not about that. This is about eating whole, nutrient dense foods! It's about ditching food like products with ingredients you can't pronounce and that are filled with chemicals! Changing the way you eat, switching to a whole foods way of eating will have a really amazing impact on your health and how you feel! (say goodbye to brain fog!)
From fast food to home cooked meals!
Nutrient deficiencies
This one goes hand in hand with the one above… we are the most overfed and undernourished society. That is scary to me. It means that we are filling up on food-like-products that don't have enough nutrients to actually sustain our health. This is evident everywhere we look! Its not uncommon for you, your neighbor, your friend, a family member to feel like crap all the time and to joke about it together. For some reason we have accepted this as normal… but its not. Its common but not normal!
What can you do about this?!
Eat whole, nutrient dense foods!! So I’ve said this a few times but that the heck does that actually mean!? It means swapping those super questionable “cheese” slices for a block or pasture raised high quality cheese. Or swapping your fruit roll ups for an actual piece of fruit. It could also be swapping your kraft peanut butter for natural, peanut butter where the only ingredient is actually peanuts!! Start reading labels and looking at what's in your food! Making these swaps are easy and you will begin to nourish your body!! Your body will thank you, I promise!
There are so many more factors that play a factor in our partners fertility but these are the main ones! Taking time to change things over one at a time so its not stressful is soo beneficial and will help ensure these awesome new health habits you are including into your life stick! Its not just about optimizing their sperm and fertility BUT also them being as healthy as they can be as a dad, husband, or partner!
