Sleeping Habits and Infertility: What Has Sleep to Do with Trying to Get Pregnant?

A lot. You have probably done everything to get pregnant: you have stopped smoking, you've cut the alcohol and morning coffee and you even given up the processed food. But did you take the time to sleep enough? Did you take the time for yourself and reduce the stress? You have probably overlooked one of the most important factors: sleep.

A report that was conducted on women who were trying to conceive and the findings were astonishing: women who cut 8 hours of sleep had problems conceiving. Most people sleep from 7 to 9 hours each night, and they need that sleeping time to function normally. The National Sleep Foundation's (NSF) 1998 Women and Sleep Poll found that the average woman aged 30-60 sleeps only six hours and forty-one minutes during the work week. Not enough. It has been proven that without appropriate sleep, one cannot achieve optimal health and wellness because one of body's most important systems, the endocrine system, will start to malfunction, and when this happens the ability to conceive decreases drastically. The reason for this is the endocrine system plays one of the most important roles in terms of regulating ovulation.

When woman does not get enough sleep low leptin levels occur, which is the hormone responsible for appetite that can lead to being overweight and can impact ovulation. It is also important to bring out that people who have sleep-related problems have a significantly higher level of the stress hormone cortisol and adrenocorticotropic, they are both hormones that can suppress a healthy fertility cycle. Research that was conducted on night-shift workers has shown that working the night shift relatively close to the day of ovulation may increase the rate of miscarriage, and the research has also shown that night shift work can cause irregular menstruation in some women which is often considered a risk factor for fertility problems.

These are all reasons good enough for getting adequate sleep at night. It is recommendable to avoid night shifts if possible. There are several ways to improve your sleep habits, and one of them they include creating a bedtime routine and sticking with it. Try to avoid work such as checking email just before sleep, and of course skip that cup of coffee in the late afternoon.