MYF 06 | Surprising Facts About Sleep and How it Affects Fertility

Most of us probably view lack of sleep as an unfortunate reality of our busy lives. But getting enough sleep really isn’t optional if you want to live a healthy lifestyle, especially if you’re trying to get pregnant.

In this episode we teach you why sleep is so important to your health and how it can help you enhance your fertility through things like balancing your hormones, boosting your metabolism, and taming inflammation in your body.

We’ll also give you a ton of specific actionable steps to help you increase the amount of sleep you’re getting and improve your sleep quality.

Show Notes:

1:00 The four stages of sleep

2:15 How your brain restores itself and gets rid of waste

3:30 How sleep impacts our memory

5:00 Lack of sleep, metabolism, and appetite

6:20 Our natural sleep/wake cycle – a balance between cortisol and melatonin

10:25 How much sleep we actually need

13:40 Health consequences of being sleep deprived on a regular basis

15:50 Impact of lack of sleep on male and female fertility and pregnancy

19:30 Things that disrupt our sleep and what we can do about it

            19:50 Limiting certain activities in the evening – intense exercise, work, blue light

            24:45 Getting daytime exposure to natural light

            25: 45 Supporting melatonin production in evening

            28:55 Supplements that increase melatonin production or promote relaxation

32:50 Making your sleep environment comfortable

34:05 Managing your blood sugar throughout the day with – diet, caffeine, and alcohol

37:20 Health conditions and prescription drugs that can impact sleep