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Exercise to Reduce Obesity

By exercising on a regular basis women can really help to lower their body fat levels. Women who are overweight or obese should try to exercise moderately in order to help improve their chances of conception. If you haven’t exercised much before, start off slowly, by just adding in a few minutes a day. Focus on activities like:

• walking
• cycling
• yoga
• swimming

These activities are low impact and therefore less stressful on the muscles and joints. Gradually work up to an exercise program that lasts for 30 minutes, three to four times a week. 

Exercise and Stress 

Trying to become pregnant can be very stressful, both physically and emotionally. Many couples find that they become extremely caught up with infertility treatments, such as IVF or IUI, and other parts of their lives tend to suffer as a result. Unfortunately, stress is not a good thing to be going through when you are trying to become pregnant. 

Stress and Infertility

Stress can really take its toll on your fertility. Stress can make it difficult to be intimate with your partner, making conception unpleasant or even impossible. Stress can also trigger a variety of health problems, including cardiovascular problems and depression. Stress can also interfere with ovulation and menstruation, as well as sperm health and motility.

Reducing Stress Through Exercise

Exercise can be a great stress reliever and is thus very helpful in restoring hormone balance and fertility. Exercise releases endorphins, which encourages your body to better deal with pain and stress.

Additionally, exercise can help to restore your sleep patterns, allowing you to stay rested and in good health. Finally, exercise also allows you a little "time off" from frustrating fertility treatment sessions. Regular exercise, especially pilates, yoga, and cycling, can really help to end your fertility woes.

Exercises to Increase Fertility

There has been debate over the years about whether or not certain exercise positions can actually increase your fertility. There have always been old wives tales about the use of certain sexual positions to help increase your fertility, but do specific exercises really help you to become pregnant?

Yoga Poses

To date, there have been numerous studies on exercise-induced fertility. Some seem to support that specific exercise poses can increase fertility, while others do not. There has been some research done on yoga postures, which suggest that specific poses can increase fertility.

Because yoga poses increase blood flow to certain organs, yoga may help to stimulate ovulation and make the uterus more conducive to conception. Additionally, it has been found that couples undergoing IVF treatment who are also practicing yoga regularly are more likely have successful results. For this reason, many fertility clinics have begun to offer yoga courses, along with other complimentary forms of treatment.

If you are undergoing IVF, ask your fertility specialist if they offer any yoga classes for their patients.