From 1990 to 2010 worldwide rates of infertility increased from 3.5 percent to 16.7 percent, with more than one in four couples currently facing infertility issues. Meanwhile over the past forty years, the concentration of sperm in male ejaculate dropped by over 52 percent. While we still haven’t uncovered all the reasons behind this global dip in both female and male fertility, we have developed a better grasp of ways to support couples who struggle with this painful reality.
Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) like In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) and Intrauterine Insemination (IUI) are costly, invasive, and have low to middling success rates. Fortunately, we have other options. We can uncover the root causes and correct these for more natural conception. Clinical studies, for example, point to the major role stress plays in preventing the implantation of a new embryo. Chronic stress directs blood flow away from reproductive organs and negatively impacts pathways of hormone production.
Thyroid health is critical for conception and heavily impacted by stress. We have an epidemic of thyroid disease affecting upwards of 12 percent of our population, with women five to eight times more susceptible. Thyroid medication levothyroxine is among the top prescribed medication in the United States.
Weight and diet play significant roles in fertility. Studies show that overweight women are three times more likely to be infertile. Similar studies reducing carbohydrate and sugar consumption in infertile women reveal significant increases in their ability to conceive. High carbohydrate and sugar intake cause high blood levels of the hormone insulin. Due to chemical similarity insulin competes with, and suppresses the function of, Luteinizing Hormone (LH) which is responsible for both egg maturation and ovulation. Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), whose primary symptom is either irregular or absent menstruation, is the most common cause of infertility. Like diabetes, PCOS is caused by high levels of blood insulin and treated with the same drug, Metformin. Incidence of PCOS has grown 65 percent in the past decade and affects up to twenty percent of the global female population.
Chinese medicine has a two-thousand-year successful history of treating infertility, including herbal formulas that enrich egg reserves and sperm quality/quantity. Acupuncture and herbs effectively restore a healthy menstrual cycle, reduce stress, promote normal thyroid and ovarian function, and encourage healthy blood flow to the reproductive organs. In fact, acupuncture increases the rates of IVF success on average by 30 percent and helps mitigate many of the side effects of IVF and IUI medications.
If you are struggling with conception, we can help! At Vital Health, we dig deep to uncover the root causes. We then use acupuncture together with targeted diet changes, herbs, and supplementation to restore your reproductive health.
©2023 Darcy Greenwald, M.S.O.M., L.Ac. and Vital Health
