You are here because you want to do everything you can to either bring your cycle back into balance or improve your chances of conceiving successfully.
I’ve been specializing in fertility and hormones for nearly 10 years, and these are the tips I give all my ladies and use regularly myself.
I am not trying for a baby right now—six children are more than enough for me—but I still want to make sure my cycle is in the best shape possible. Why? Because not only is our cycle a MAJOR marker of health and vitality, but it also has a strong correlation to the longevity of our life!
Before we get into it, I want to preface this by saying this is best approached through the lens of a lifestyle shift that will greatly improve your health, rather than just to make a baby. I say this because successfully integrating these small shifts and habits will serve you not only through your pregnancy but postpartum and beyond.
I also want to say that about 80% of couples and women who are looking to optimize their hormonal health can do so from the comfort of their own homes and without any invasive tests or outside support. It’s about having the right information and being self-motivated to make the changes. It’s my intent with all my content that it empowers you and helps you feel more equipped, self-aware, and in charge of your health and well-being.
Ok, let’s go, shall we?
- Detox your home and your environment.
The world we live in is full of nasty chemicals and toxins. From skincare to cleaning products to food and the water we drink, even our clothes we wear. Now, I don’t want you to immediately contract and feel the threat of everything being out to get you and make you ill because we can’t live like that either. What we can do is reduce the toxic load our body has to deal with. It’s important because if the body has to constantly divert precious energy to remove toxins, it will draw that energy from other systems, such as digestion, cell repair, or hormonal regulation and harmony. The liver plays an important role in our hormonal function, and it is also the key player in the body’s detoxification process. An overwhelmed liver is not going to be serving your endocrine system if it has too much to do, so we really want to give it the easiest time possible. This build-up will also cause inflammation within the body—and this is a big problem for us. We need our immune system calm and strong, not overwhelmed and fighting to survive—there’s a big difference here. An easy place to start is our home environment. As a general rule, we want to use as clean and natural products as possible for cleaning our home, for what we put on our skin, and for the food and water we ingest. More on that in a moment. We have so many wonderful products on the market now, so it should be a really easy switch to make! Social media is also full of helpful, natural cleaning hacks.
- Our food.
Following on from detoxing our home and environment above, I want to mention our food and water. I’ll give it to you straight—the couples who have the best results with me go all in on this one. It’s eating to the best you can afford. I say this because I know eating organic, grass-fed animal products can be a little out of reach for some people, BUT it makes a massive difference! If organic and grass-fed animal products aren’t an option, the goal is to reduce or even eliminate all processed foods and drinks. You are what you eat, after all! Our gut health is a major cornerstone in not just our hormonal health but our overall health, including mental health. There is a growing amount of research to support this. Changes in your diet and gut health will make a really big impact. This would be the first place I focus.
- Are you eating enough?
It’s one thing to be eating the right food, but most women I see and hear from are chronically undernourished. Let me be clear, this isn’t a weight or calorie metric, although they can certainly be factors. For the sake of this blog, I am going to keep it much broader and speak to what I see in the clinic. A lot of women don’t eat enough calories (calories of the right kind) and are stuck in cycles of feast and famine with their bodies. This wreaks havoc on our insulin and glucose levels, which eventually impacts our thyroid function, causes inflammation in our bodies, and leads to massive spikes in cortisol, also known as the stress hormone. Our nervous system plays a massive part in this too, of course. Food and our diet get to be part of our regulation toolkit. One simple way we can do that is to simply eat regular meals with a simple balance of fats, proteins, and carbs. Bonus points for biodiversity (which basically means eating a wide and varied diet). We have to FEED our hormones, and we feed them back to stability. I dive into this deeper in module 2 of my online hormone harmony course—Reset and Flow.
- Water—are you dehydrated?
Our tap water is no good for us. It is full of chemicals that leach vital minerals from our bodies. Investing in a water filter is an absolute no-brainer, in my opinion. Now, let’s talk about hydration. Hydration isn’t the amount of water you consume; true dehydration is a deficit in minerals. We lose minerals every day through our excretion system like sweat and urination. Most of us aren’t very good at replenishing them or even know that it’s a thing! If you’re like me, you were just told to drink more water! I would say 80% of the population is chronically dehydrated! Hydration is so important. For the sake of ease in this post, you need to know you should be taking a daily dose of minerals so the water you intake—your body can absorb and use properly. We love Irish seamoss and Celtic sea salt. I also combine this with diatomaceous earth (food grade) through ingesting and also bathing in it.
- Cycle syncing
If you don’t know how to track your cycle, go watch my free class right now! Knowing your cycle and your phases is so important. This is where we optimize your diet, your exercise routine, your energy levels, and productivity. You’re not supposed to be consistent, but if we move and live within our cycle, we can maximize every phase and feel more at ease in life. Everything gets to flow and feel more in alignment within our mind, body, and soul.
- Exercise/movement.
We live more sedentary lives than we ever have done. Is it hurting our health? Absolutely! But what I also see in treatment is plenty of women who over-exercise and dominate their bodies with strict workout schedules. Is there a happy medium? And more to the point, a way to exercise and move that complements our different and fluctuating energy/phases within our cycle? It’s important to remember this is VERY individual—what exercise stresses one woman’s body might not stress another’s (and yes, exercise can cause stress to the body). One woman’s capacity to exercise will be very different from the lady who has worked an office job for the last 2 years! It takes curiosity, flexibility, and awareness to find the right approach to exercise for you. A great place to start is to look at your cycle and be curious about any symptoms, imbalances, and energy loss. Those with low progesterone might want to lean towards more walking and yin exercises like yoga, etc. Excess estrogen and heavy, painful periods—what exercise/movement can help you create space and flow in your hips/pelvis as you approach your bleed?
- Removing stress
This kinda seems like an obvious one; however, I know many of us don’t realize just how stressed we are because it’s slowly accrued over a period of time. There also seems to be a collective acceptance that life is going to feel stressful, and we just need to suck it up and get on with it. We know stress is bad for our health, and stress really impacts our hormones and fertility. It is a given in life, so it’s useful to have some things in the toolbox we can do to limit the impact stress has on our body. There are so many ways to go about this, from engaging in mindfulness practices, doing meditation, yoga…cue all the self-care practices! While these are all great, they might end up feeling like a band-aid if you’ve been living in chronic dysregulation for a long time. A body that feels calm and relaxed might not actually feel very safe to you. If this is you and you can recognize that slowing down, being still, maybe even being in your own company is incredibly difficult and uncomfortable, I want you to focus on nervous system regulation rather than just removing stress, for the reason I’ve just explained above. You’re never going to fully relax, no matter how many yoga sessions you do, if your body/nervous system remains on high alert and you don’t know how to manage that response. We have to move you out of survival mode first!
- Attachment, relationship, and love.
Here’s the thing no one else is talking about. This goes hand in hand with your nervous system, which I’ve briefly mentioned above. One of the main reasons we can remain in a sympathetic nervous system response is due to a lack of attachment to others or having an ‘insecure’ attachment. This can manifest in lots of different ways and is incredibly nuanced, but what I want to make clear here is a secure attachment often means safety to/in the body. Now, if you don’t feel safe in your body, in relation to others and the world around you, I promise with how intelligent the body is, it will decide that you are not in the right conditions to make a baby, birth a baby, or even raise a baby and will adjust its functions to this information. We know that oxytocin, aka the love hormone, is the BIG domino in our hormonal sequence. It trumps all, and when we are getting lots of wonderful hits of oxytocin, it can balance the rest of our hormonal profile. Brilliant news, right? We just need to up our love game—yes! Except that might be quite difficult to do if subconsciously we are fighting against fears we are going to be abandoned, hurt, not good enough, responsible for everyone else’s happiness, or we have to prove ourselves and be perfect all the time! Yikes! If this is really speaking to you, take whatever steps you can to really build safety in your connections and build your relationships with a really strong foundation. When you feel secure, I promise your body and your hormones will reflect this.
- Holiday mode
This is a fun concept that I always share with my clients when we are talking about the sense of ease, flow, and acceptance when we are trying for a baby. I know, when you’re actively trying and seem to be getting nowhere fast, this won’t feel comfortable because it’s all you can think about. So it’s a practice and a loving reminder, maybe even a place or a feeling to aim for every time you can recognize or the awareness presents itself that either your mind is running away with you or your body is feeling tight, rigid, and “bracing” (bracing is the word I use to portray our body trying to protect itself or manage stress. We might as well have our arms out to the world and say, “please don’t come any closer!”). So I want you to cast your memory back to a time you were on holiday and just see if you can sink into the memory and allow your body to also remember how you felt. Just notice what begins to shift in your body as you wander back into your holiday. I bet your body begins to relax, maybe feel a bit softer and open. Perhaps your mind seems to calm down as you step away from all the “have to’s/should do’s/need to’s.” Holidays are a place where we often recharge and unwind, and get to experience more presence and FAR LESS rushing and bracing. We are there to have a good time, right? There is a reason why so many people get pregnant on holiday. I want you to remember that the next time you catch yourself feeling frustrated and uptight. It’s not that you NEED a holiday (although that would never go amiss) but to seek more ways you can find the sensation/feeling of being on holiday in your day-to-day.
- Processing unresolved stress and trauma.
Unprocessed stress and trauma will lay in the body until it can be released. It’s one of the clever mechanisms our body and mind have to keep us safe. However, it’s only supposed to be there short term. Once we reach a place of safety or that period of stress/situation is over, we are supposed to process and metabolize the event and stress. Have you ever seen an animal shake after it’s run for its life? Animals instinctively know how to move stress on—humans, however, are not so great at it. We know stress is the biggest cause of disease in our bodies. Not only are we looking to reduce stress and build our capacity to deal with it, but also to resolve and release past stress. Learning how to process stress from our body is a bit like keeping up with the pile of washing instead of letting it overflow. Just search somatic exercises to find out more. You could also work with a somatic practitioner (like myself) to help you process any unmetabolized stress and trauma. Any therapist worth their weight in gold will support you in finding practices to support you at home and build your own skills and awareness, which will last a lifetime. I believe one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves is learning how to navigate our own inner world and learn how to hold and be with our feelings. Essentially, we are talking about embodiment and befriending the body. A sense of safety and connection to our bodies is a skill that will be constantly called upon and TESTED throughout our whole lives, but especially during pregnancy, birth, and motherhood. They don’t call it a mother’s intuition for nothing, and that intuition they speak of lies in your body. If we have unprocessed stress, our intuition will be clouded by past events and seek a natural bias to just keep you safe and in the “known.” It will be very difficult to hear clearly. If this has peeked your interest, why not check out a short somatic exercise on my youtube channel to find a felt sense of safety in the body? Just click here
So there you have my 10 things you can do at home in order to boost your fertility and hormonal balance. Ok, so not all of them are things to action and might be quite confronting, but I always seek to cut the fluff and go to the root because this isn’t just about your fertility and hormonal balance; this is about your health and well-being at large. To focus and reframe your attention on the bigger picture actually creates a lot of space and alleviates a lot of pressure and expectation around conceiving a baby. As I always say, creating a baby is actually less about the doing and far more about the being!
Was this helpful? Let me know your biggest takeaways below, and don’t forget to check out the rest of the blog for more inspiration.
With love,
Rebecca.
