What is Fertility?

Fertility is the state of being fertile. If you look at fertile soil around the planet, what makes it fertile is having enough raw nutrients to create life. Everything from our physical bodies came from the earth. It also goes beyond that in the aspect of reproducing our gifts in every area of life as a pathway of service.

The Process of Fertility

Women are born with all of their eggs, which is approximately 2 million. About 11 thousand of them die off every month prior too puberty. By the point they are able to have children, the have approximately 300 thousand left. After this, 1000 eggs die off each month. When a women runs out of her egg supply, her ovaries sharply decline in estrogen, triggering menopause.

conception-

Ovaries store eggs, which travel down the fallopian tubes. The sperm meets the egg and penetrates it, resulting in conception. Then the embryo attaches itself to the uterus where the development takes place.

How sperm is made-

In the adult testicle, there is 700 feet of tubing called the seminiferous tubules. Sperm is made form pre curser germ cells that create 120 million sperm daily. This is called spermatogenesis.

Environmental Factors That Disrupt Fertility

1. Plastic

BPA (bisphenol A)-

BPA is a material that is added to plastic to make it hard. It is known as a xenoestrogen, or foreign estrogen. This means that it attaches to your estrogen receptor cites and turn on estrogen like programs. This can lead to access estrogen in men and women. Access estrogen can lead to breast cancer in women, and lowered fertility in men.

BPS (bisphenol S)-

This is a very similar material to BPA, but is marketed as safer. Just because something says BPA free in it doesn’t mean that it’s safe because BPS is often added in its place.

Phthalates-

These are often used in the personal care industry as a plastic softener. Phthalates disrupt estrogen by affecting the cell signaling pathways. By this action, it was shown that they effect the placenta in a pregnant mother. These chemicals have also been linked to impaired cognition, motor skills, and ADHD.

2. EMFs

Electromagnetic frequencies have been proven to disrupt fertility. This study shows that study participants who kept their phone in their pocket had significantly less sperm quality. Also, in another study, men who kept their phone in their pocket had sperm that was far less usable. Research done at the National Toxicology Program, funded by the NIH, has shown that EMFs are a class A carcinogen, which means we know it causes cancer. These studies were done in 2G, and 3G. 4G, and 5 G could potentially be much worse. Women who put their phone in their bra are far more likely to develop breast cancer. For solutions on how to deal with EMFs, click here.

3. Pesticides

Pesticides, herbicides, fungicides have been proven to be neurogenic, or estrogenic. This means that it disrupts the nervous system, or the endocrine system. It messes with the pests reproduction via hormones. It disrupts the endocrine system by being a xenoestrogen. Also, these are designed to kill very small things, this includes our microbiome. We are made up of these tiny organisms, and pesticides have a profound impact on them.

How to Increase Fertility

1. Improve sleep ad reduce stress

Sleep is an extremely important part of being fertile. Sleep  drives the synthesis, secretion, and metabolism of hormones necessary for reproduction. Sleep deprivation also causes access stress and an increase in cortisol, which is counter productive to sex hormones. The disruption of the HPAT axis will disrupt the circadian rhythm, further throwing off hormone production. Women’s cycles will also be off do to disruption of the circadian rhythm.

2. Movement

Exercise has been proven to increase fertility by regulating the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. Women who moderately  exercised hd more efficient cycles. Also, muscle is a reservoir of youthful hormones. The study also shows that too much exercise can be counter productive to fertility do to the access stress hormones.

3. Nutrition

Eating enough essential fats and amino acids is critical for fertility. Cholesterol is the seed used to make sex hormones. Consuming omega 3s from fish and fish eggs is a good idea to boost hormone production. Having enough vitamin D is important because inadequate amounts have been linked to higher rates of miscarriage. Lastly, folate is critical for promotion ovulation in women, and proper sperm formation in men. Green leafy vegetables and organ meats are a great source.