Your Lack of Sleep Could Be Sabotaging Your Fertility

Lack of sleep is something over 30 percent of Americans struggle with every year, and it only gets worse for patients dealing with the stress of undergoing fertility treatments. But for couples trying to get pregnant, a lack of sleep could be sabotaging their efforts. Your health, mood, hormones, and fertility are all affected by how much and well you sleep. 

Sleep Deprivation is a Fertility Killer

Failing to get enough sleep doesn’t just influence your mood and productivity, it also influences the hormones a woman secretes throughout her cycle. Studies have shown that getting enough quality sleep has a positive effect on the reproductive hormones a woman produces, including progesterone, estrogen, Leptin, and Follicle-Stimulating Hormones (FSH).

Getting enough quality sleep is even more important for women hoping to achieve a pregnancy using IVF. According to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s study, women with low-quality sleep had lower rates of fertility than those getting adequate rest.

The Role of Light Pollution

Even if you’re getting eight hours of sleep every night, other factors, like light pollution from electronics, can also affect the quality of your sleep and your eggs. The blue light emitted from phones, computers, and other electronics can interfere with your sleep-wake cycle, meaning the quality of your sleep is not where it should be.

But your gadgets aren’t just keeping you from sleeping well, they can also be hindering your efforts to conceive. The blue light from your electronics suppresses melatonin, a critical hormone that both helps you sleep and protects your eggs when they are close to ovulation. Without appropriate melatonin production, your eggs will not be guarded against the free radicals which can reduce their viability.

The Infertility Shift

Do you work the night shift? If so, you may find that you’ll have a harder time getting pregnant. Working the night shift can impact your circadian rhythm, resulting in hormonal imbalances, lower estrogen levels, and irregular menstrual cycles. These factors can all make it more difficult to both achieve a pregnancy and carry a pregnancy to term.

What You Can Do

While most women will find that hold at least one of these sleep-damaging habits, most are relatively easy to fix. To improve sleep quality and increase their chances of getting pregnant, women should:

• Get 7-8 hours of sleep every night. Too few or too many hours can negatively affect fertility.
• Unplug before bed. Put away computers, phones, tablets, and other electronics at least an hour before bedtime.
• If you work swing shifts or night shifts, speak with your employer about changing your schedule. If this isn’t possible, ask your employer if it would be possible to adjust the lighting accordingly.

Getting enough high-quality sleep isn’t just good for your general health, it’s also great for your fertility. While getting enough sleep can be difficult for couples trying to achieve a pregnancy, getting in those eight hours a night can help improve your chances of conceiving and building the family of your dreams.

If you’re having difficulty achieving a pregnancy and would like more information on the fertility options available to you, call the fertility experts at IVF FLORIDA at 866.770.2168 to schedule an appointment today.