How Weight Can Affect Your Fertility
Did you know that a significant percentage of the population is struggling with infertility? According to data from the World Health Organisation, between 48 million to 186 million individuals and 15% of reproductive age couples globally suffer from the issue. In developing countries, 186 million married women of reproductive age are wishing for a child.
Medi-Gyn are a Fertility and Hormone balancing Centre that pride ourselves in helping women around the world conceive and make their dreams come true to conceive.
However, there are a number of things you can do prior and alongside the services that we offer to help the conception process, and that is to control your weight, that has an impact on your chances to conceive. Any hormonal imbalance can seriously mess up a woman’s chances of getting pregnant. So it’s important to maintain a healthy BMI to get pregnant.
How does weight affect fertility?
Some women who are underweight or obese will have problems getting pregnant and often this is due to the ovaries not releasing an egg (ovulation issues).
Body mass index in the obese range can lead to irregular periods (menstrual cycles) and lack of ovulation..
What if I am underweight?
A BMI of <19 (underweight) often causes irregular menstrual cycles and may cause ovulation to stop altogether. This is especially true if you are losing weight because you are not eating enough or because you are exercising too much.
Does obesity affect my chances of getting pregnant with treatment?
There is good evidence that obesity lowers the chance of success in vitro fertilisation (IVF). There are many reasons for this. Being overweight can have a negative affect on the way your body responds to the fertility drugs. A smaller number of eggs can be produced, compared to women with a healthy BMI and that is why it is vital that you maintain a healthy weight during the fertility process.
Obesity can also make procedures that are part of the fertility treatment, such as the egg collection, more challenging and less efficient, with fewer eggs of lower quality being collected. Lastly, it can reduce the chance of the embryo (the fertilised egg) being implanted in the womb and increase the chance of an early pregnancy loss.
For further information on fertility and how to balance your hormones naturally please contact Medi-Gyn today:
m: +971 5 5545 0797 (UAE)
m: +33 6 95 68 16 49 (France)