Preparing for IVF is critical if you want to give yourself the best
chance of success.
Science has proven that there is a lot you can do to boost your
chances. By making some simple lifestyle changes the likelihood of your cycle
ending in success can increase dramatically.
To help you prepare, there is a free checklist of all the things
discussed in this post that you can download below.
You are (Probably) Damaging Your Chances
If you have read our About page you will know that my wife had
leukaemia twice and this caused us to go down the IVF path. We had limited
chances of having a baby so we knew that preparing for IVF in the right way was
going to be vital.
Because of this we looked at each area of our lives and researched the
steps we could take to get ourselves in the best shape possible for our
treatment.
Ours is quite a dramatic story so it may be understandable that we
took this approach. We had, though, assumed other couples going through IVF
would be doing something similar.
We were surprised when we came across a scientific study that showed
96% of IVF patients had 3 or more lifestyle issues that could damage their
chances. The other 4% had 2 lifestyle issues. We talked about the study in
detail in our post 100% of IVF Patients Harm Chances with their Lifestyle.
Going down the IVF route means that these women will have been
experiencing fertility issues for some time.
Because of this many would have already taken steps to correct issues
they thought may cause problems. Despite this 96% still had 3 or more lifestyle
factors that harmed their chances.
Clearly, preparing for IVF is either not something most couples do or,
if they do take steps, those steps are not effective.
Don’t be one of them.
The aim of this post is to show you the things you can do to get ready
for IVF and maximise your chances of success.
The 3 Keys to IVF Success
IVF treatment can seem a complicated process. You’re confronted by an
array of diagnostic tests, scans, drugs and procedures but succeeding is really
quite simple: it boils down to getting 3 things right:
Increase Egg Quality & Quantity
Improve Sperm Quality & Quantity
Optimise Womb Receptivity
Wherever your fertility issue lies when preparing for IVF you should
seek to optimise each of these things. Think of it as the weakest link in the
chain: your chances of IVF success are only as good as the weakest link.
Fortunately, science has proven that there is a lot we can do
ourselves to get these things right. We can take back control.
Let’s have a look at some of the steps we can take.
Our minds
One of the ways our minds can impact IVF success is how we handle
stress.
The IVF journey can be an emotional rollercoaster. There is no getting
away from it. The hormones that you will receive can send your emotions
haywire. It is stressful enough anyway and the drugs often make everything seem
worse.
Stress damages IVF success
Because of this it is important when preparing for IVF to take steps
to keep yourself as calm and balanced as possible. Studies have shown that
stress can negatively impact IVF success tips so it would
be wise to take steps to reduce it.
A couple of things can be helpful. First, before you start treatment
write down your goal. Sure, you want to have a baby but be more specific and
project ahead to any obstacles that may come up together with how you can
overcome them.
By doing this when you are in a better frame of mind you are more likely
to make good choices. If the obstacles do then crop up you will already have a
plan in place to deal with them.
Next, plan stress-reducing activities to help keep you calm and in
control. With success rates low anyway the last thing we want is to reduce our
chances further.
Things as diverse as reading, walking and laughing have been shown to
reduce stress levels. Pick some things and do them regularly during your
treatment.
Nutrition
We have already seen how sugary drinks destroy fertility by 20% to 33%
and that burnt and processed foods can cause problems. What we eat is so
critical to our health and IVF success that its importance cannot be
overstated.
Nutrition and preparing for IVF
“You are what you eat” is so true. Eating the right diet is a complex
subject but when you how to prepare for IVF you
should do two things:
avoid eating heavily processed and refined foods
eat lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and a healthy balance of lean
meat and fish
By doing this you will ensure that:
you avoid consuming things proven to reduce IVF success rates
you provide your body with all the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants,
micronutrients, good fats and protein it needs to get in the best shape
possible for IVF
Food has powerful drug-like effects, both positive and negative.
Taking these steps will help prime your body for IVF success.
Toxins
You probably haven’t heard of the term “endocrine disrupters”. If you
are preparing for IVF you need to know about them.
Endocrine disrupters are chemicals or other substances that can affect
our body’s hormonal (aka endocrine) system. Amongst other things, endocrine
disrupters can mimic and block our body’s natural hormones.
This can be extremely problematic for fertility.
Conceiving and having a child relies on a delicate cascade of
hormones. Our bodies need the right amount of hormones, in the right balance at
the right time. Anything that interferes with this process should be avoided at
all costs.
Unfortunately, in the modern world we are surrounded by man-made
chemicals and pollutants that act as endocrine disrupters. Without knowing it
we are inhaling, eating, drinking and absorbing these things every day.
We have seen how environment pollution can reduce pregnancy rates by
18% and chemical pesticides can lower birth rates by 26%. But these are just
the start and things are getting worse.
In our increasingly industrialised world vehicles and industry pump
out waste products into our environment and household products are made from
harmful chemicals.
To give you an idea of the scale of the problem a study in the US
identified 70,000 different industrial chemicals in the environment with 1,000
new synthetic chemicals being produced each year.
It is impossible to avoid all of these chemicals all of the time but
there are lots of things you can do to limit your exposure.
For example, we included some of the steps you can follow to reduce
your exposure to chemical pesticides in our Can Pesticides Damage IVF Success?
post. To limit your exposure to pollutants you can follow the tips in our post
Air Pollution Lowers IVF Success Rates.
In addition to these, be very careful about food and drink packaging
and the scented products you use in your home.
Nutritional Supplements
Nutritional supplements are not a substitute for a healthy diet. We
cannot eat unhealthy food then expect a few pills to sort us out.
Having said that there are many supplements that science has proven
can increase success rates. In the IVF Success Plan we cover 11 different
supplements, each of which has been shown to be very effective.
Nutritional supplements for IVF
Let’s look at an example.
You will probably have heard of folic acid and how important it is for
pregnant women. It is so important that many government health authorities
recommend supplementing with it before and during pregnancy as it reduces the
risk of children developing certain conditions.
A number of studies have also shown how beneficial it can be in
preparing for IVF.
Firstly, a study of women undergoing IVF treatment at Massachusetts
Fertility Centre looked at the levels of folic acid in their blood. The
researchers found that women with the highest levels were 62% more likely to
have a live birth compared to women with the lowest levels.
Another study again looked at levels of folic acid but this time in
the fluid that surrounds the ovaries (“monofollicular fluid” to give it the
scientific term). The study followed women undergoing IVF and found that
doubling the levels of folic acid in this fluid resulted in women being 3.3
times more likely to become pregnant.
Folic acid levels are also associated with an increased number of
mature eggs following stimulation and improved embryo quality. Both of these
are critical for IVF success.
Folic acid is also beneficial to men with sperm issues. For example, a
study took 89 men and looked at the proportion of their sperm that had some
form of abnormality.
The men were required to keep a diary of their food intake and the
researchers calculated the intake of various nutrients from this. They found
that sperm of men with the highest intake of folic acid had 20% fewer
abnormalities than those with a low intake. Abnormal sperm is unlikely to
successfully fertilise an it starts with the egg
so this finding is important.
I have used the term “folic acid” here because it is the name that
most people are familiar with. Folic acid is actually the synthetic form.
Folate is the natural occurring form and is the best option to go for. Avoid
supplements with “pteroylmonoglutamic acid” on the label as this indicates that
it is synthetic.
When preparing for embryo transfer IVF
you should discuss any step you take with your doctor but the studies suggest a
dose of between 400 and 800mcg per day of natural form folate is beneficial.
Bodyweight
Being both overweight and underweight can significantly reduce your
chances of having a baby with IVF. This applies to both men and women and the
more overweight or underweight you are the bigger the effect.
Studies show the impact can be as much as a 64% reduction in birth
rates.
Weight and IVF success
Weight is such an important factor in IVF that some clinics refuse to
treat patients that are outside the ideal range.
If you are either overweight or underweight part of preparing for IVF should
include addressing the situation. We talked about nutrition above and eating
well will not only make you healthier, it will help get you within the ideal
weight range.
If you are overweight, please don’t adopt an extreme diet. Starving
yourself of nutrients may help you lose weight (at least temporarily) but it is
likely to prevent your body being in an optimal state for your treatment.
Eat healthy food (not too much), avoid junk and add in a form of
moderate exercise you enjoy and will persist with.
To help you obtain the ideal IVF diet in the IVF
Success Plan we provide you with a step by step plan using little known,
science-backed techniques to lose fat easily and healthily.
Those who are underweight can easily gain healthy lean weight by
consuming a little more (healthy) food at each meal and by snacking on healthy
calorie-dense food such as nuts and dried fruit.
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