Vaginal Microbiome & Its Impact
On Your Reproductive Health
Microbiome refers to all the microorganisms that exist within the human body including the reproductive organs.
There are 4 bacterial groups that reside in the vagina. 3 of these, especially lactobacillus are responsible for maintaining normal PH levels within the vagina and your overall vaginal health. When there is a lactobacillus shortage, it disrupts the bacterial ecosystem within the vagina.
This can lead to several health conditions that may significantly reduce your chances of conception. They include urinary tract infection, cervix uterus, and fallopian tubes complications. These infections are directly linked to pelvic inflammatory disease, miscarriages, premature birth, premature rupture of the fetal membrane, and uterine infection during and after delivery.
How Can Probiotics Help With Fertility?
Probiotics are live bacteria and yeasts with possible benefits for your digestive and vaginal health. These useful bacteria facilitate several key metabolic processes, such as digestion, a boost in vitamin and mineral uptake, immune system regulation, and protection against pathogens – organisms that may lead to disease.
All of these functions have a direct or indirect impact on your fertility. For instance, a robust digestion process and proper mineral absorption will help the body to carry out important chemical reactions crucial to balancing our hormones, thus leading to a higher chance of pregnancy.
The Importance Of Normal Vaginal PH And How To Maintain It
A normal vaginal PH hovers between 3.8 and 4.5, which is somewhat acidic. An acidic vaginal environment acts as a protective shield that significantly reduces infection risk preventing harmful bacteria from multiplying too quickly.
A vaginal PH level beyond 4.5 makes it easy for these pathogens to grow. Having a high vaginal pH puts you at risk for infections such as Bacterial vaginosis (BV), which can negatively affect your fertility chances.
Here’s how you can maintain a healthy vaginal PH:
- Use contraception during sex: Semen is alkaline and can disrupt your vaginal PH, using a condom will help prevent that and also keep STDs at bay
- Avoid douching: Quite a few women wash out their vagina with a mixture of water and vinegar, baking soda, or iodine. Avoid doing so – It can abnormally raise your vaginal PH. All you need to do is use mild soap and water while you shower. ·
- Take probiotics: Supplementing with probiotics can help restore the balance of healthy bacteria to your system.
Path To Pregnancy Is EASIER With A
Timely Fertility Cleanse
Infertility makes it quite challenging to attain pregnancy. However, one of the best things you can do to prepare your body for conception is carrying out a fertility cleanse. In addition to eliminating toxins from your body, it is known to restore your reproductive organs to their healthiest and maximizes the probability of pregnancy.
A cleanse is often complemented by an easy-to-follow elimination nutrition plan. The elimination nutrition plan in combination with a cleanse is designed to help lower inflammation. In addition, it will help regulate your blood sugar and replenish the core nutrients your body needs for optimum function and enable it to fend off excessive inflammation.
Let’s take a closer look at why you need a cleanse, what to expect once you start and how the treatment may help you on your path to parenthood:
- Revitalizes The Uterus & Facilitates Embryo Development
The core function of the uterus is to nourish, nurture and house a fertilized egg throughout its development until the baby is ready to be delivered.
During each cycle, the uterus is supposed to release the lining that was built the month before for the embryo to implant. At times, the uterus is not completely cleansed during the cycle, so old stagnant blood remains. As you can imagine, this is not the best environment to house a new embryo, often leading to infertility issues, PCOS, and painful periods.
A timely fertility cleanse can help flush out stagnant blood and replenishes the uterus with fresh, clean blood thus facilitating proper embryo nourishment and creating an ideal environment for the embryo to flourish.
- Cleans Out The Lymphatic System
The Lymphatic system is the backbone of your immune system and works like a “cleaning system” to rid your body of toxins and waste. The tonsils, adenoids, spleen, liver, and thymus make up the lymphatic system.
We constantly come into contact with harmful chemicals; this can throw off our lymphatic system and cause several health conditions such as infertility, chronic inflammation, allergies and hormone imbalances – all of these can dramatically reduce your probability of attaining pregnancy. Cleansing promotes lymphatic drainage thus significantly enhancing your body’s ability to filter out toxins.
- It Facilitates Optimum Liver Function
The liver is responsible for eliminating toxins and maintaining hormonal balance within our body. Excess hormones can clog the liver and compromise its ability to filter out toxins, which can ultimately lead to infertility. Poor lifestyle and nutritional choices also play a part in reducing your liver’s effectiveness. This at times, warrants external stimulation such as a 2 to 4-week cleanse, which can help remove these toxins and improve your chances of conception.
A Healthier Lymphatic System
Equals A Stronger, More Fertile You!
Lymphatic system is the backbone of your immune system and works like a “cleaning system” to rid your body of toxins and waste. The tonsils, adenoids, spleen, liver, and thymus make up the lymphatic system.
We constantly come into contact with harmful chemicals; this can throw off our lymphatic system and cause several health conditions such as infertility, chronic inflammation, allergies, and hormone imbalances – all of these can dramatically reduce your probability of attaining pregnancy.
By resetting your lymphatic system, you may see a measurable improvement in your overall health plus you will be giving your body the best chance of success with fertility treatment.
Moreover, an optimal functioning lymphatic system enables efficient lymph node function thereby giving your immune system a boost. Lymph nodes are hundreds of small bean-shaped structures found within the human body. They help it fight infection by filtering out toxins from the lymphatic fluid and carrying around white blood cells.
What Can You Do To Facilitate Peak Lymphatic Function?
There are several easy-to-follow ways to reset your lymphatic system:
- Stay Hydrated: Make sure you’re drinking enough water; it makes it easier for your body to get rid of toxins. Aim to consume 8 glasses a day. If plain water becomes too boring add a wedge of cucumber to it. You can also use add-ons for your water such as Hydrate, which gives it an electrolyte boost and it makes it taste great. ·
- Steer Away From Tight Clothes: Overly tight clothing restricts blood circulation within the lymphatic system. A blocked lymphatic system facilitates continuous toxin buildup.
- Watch Your Nutrition: Adding raw and nutrient-rich foods to your daily meals will ensure a healthy lymphatic system and enhance its ability to eliminate toxins. Consider adding, leafy green vegetables, nuts, low-sugar fruits, chia seeds, and avocados.
- Supplementation: In addition to the above tips, incorporate Lymph Balance which is a natural supplement that helps reset and fine-tune your lymphatic system.
Inflammation – Published research tells us inflammation is responsible for infertility in up to 30% of women in the US.
So what exactly is inflammation & how can it affect your chances of pregnancy?
Inflammation is the human body’s natural reaction to injury, infection or illness. However, prolonged inflammation can lead to several conditions that may negatively impact your ability to conceive. They include endometriosis, PCOS, implantation failure and frequent miscarriage. Moreover, elevated inflammation and oxidative stress may negatively affect egg quality and reproductive organ health, reducing fertilization and conception rates. To make matters worse, chronic inflammation can cause severe uterine lining dysfunction. It can compromise your uterine lining’s ability to facilitate egg implantation thus putting a stop to further embryo development and increasing the probability of pregnancy loss.
Omega-3 – The Key To Counter Chronic Inflammation & Boosting Fertility
There are 2 types of essential fatty acids (EFAs), omega-3 and omega-6. Both are essential to our health. Omega-6 fats facilitate a pro-inflammatory response, while omega-3s have an anti-inflammatory response.
Vital Health Benefits of Omega-3 Fatty Acids:
- Reduced Inflammation*
- Promotes fetal brain development*
- Lower risk of premature labor*
- Lowering insulin resistance*
- Lower risk of diabetes*
- Lower risk of heart disease
- Anti-inflammatory benefits, reduces arthritis symptoms*
- Reduced triglycerides count (bad cholesterol)*
- Weight Loss*
- Improved gastric function (Improved Crohn’s disease symptoms) *
- Improved vascular function*
- Reduced risk of coronary artery disease*
- Improved depression symptoms*
How Much Do You Need?
It is crucial to maintain a 3:1 ratio between the two. This balance is important to prevent prolonged inflammation and more importantly to maintain your fertility. Most Americans suffer from an omega-3 deficiency due to excessive omega-6 in the diet, leaving them prone to chronic inflammation, which negatively impacts your fertility and eventually may decrease your chances to conceive.
The Easiest Ways to boost your omega-3 intake
- Add Omega-3 rich foods to your diet: They include fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, trout, anchovies, tuna, and sardines, nuts, and perilla.
- Supplement: You can also use an Omega-3 supplement to boost your intake. However, not all Omega-3 supplements are created equal! In addition to using a reputable brand, you must ensure the supplement provides the correct Omega-3 to Omega-6 ratio like found in our Vitagenis OmgeaPure.
- You can also use an Omega-3 supplement to boost your intake. Finally, while raising your omega-3 intake, you must also make an effort to lower your omega-6 intake. You can do that by minimizing the use of processed seed & vegetable cooking oils such as corn, safflower, and sunflower oils.
How Stress Impacts Your Chances Of Pregnancy?
Research has shown that unchecked stress can severally disrupt your body’s hormonal balance and reproductive organs, therefore may directly lead to infertility. importantly, hormonal imbalance can be equally damaging to those trying to conceive on their own or going through fertility treatments such as IVF.
This kick-starts a cycle where stress and infertility feed off of each other, spiraling out of control and making it more difficult for you to conceive.
That said, essential oils can help you manage chronic stress and boost fertility. You can either use individual oils or an essential oil blend, such as Fertility Balance, which provides an optimal ratio of active ingredients to help reduce stress, improve reproductive health and fertility.However, steer clearof fragrance oils. They are not essential oils and do not offer health benefits.
What Are Essential Oils?
They are concentrated oils extracted from plants. The oils capture the essence of the plant i.e. their scent and flavor. The natural aromatic compounds found in the plants’ leaves, seeds, bark, roots, and flowers give each essential oil its unique aromatic character. They are extracted either through water or steam distillation or cold pressing.
Can Essential Oils Boost Fertility?
Experts believe there are 4 main ways essential oils can aid in boosting fertility.
- Stress Reduction: Lavender is one of the most popular essential oils widely used for its healing effects. It could help lower cortisol levels thus helping you stay calm. It may also help improve your sleep quality leaving you well-rested and energized.
- Gut Microbiome Support: Your digestive health plays an important role in maintaining fertility. Essential oils help promote the multiplication of beneficial bacteria and other useful microorganisms within your gut, keeping it functioning properly.
- Hormonal Balance: A hormonal imbalance can disrupt ovulation and lead to female infertility. Conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) are often a result of hormonal imbalance. Including essential oils in your routine may help correct these imbalances. Clary sage oil may be beneficial for this purpose.
Which Essential Oils To Use?
That’s a valid question. Instead of using any particular essential oil, using a blend of fertility-boosting essential oils such as Fertility Balance, that may help you get better results with respect to fertility and overall health. It uses a carefully calibrated formula of several fertility-improving ingredients such as: 1-
- Lavender Oil: It is known for various benefits for female reproductive health. It can be effective during menopause and may reduce stress, anxiety and depression that often occur through a fertility journey and calm you down by regulating the hormonal cycle. Research shows it may help lower cortisol levels – the human body’s stress hormone. Lavender Oil is also known to improve sleep quality, meaning you’ll feel rested and energized throughout your day.
- Neroli-Petitgrain Oil: Both Neroli and Petitgrain essential oils may help improve your overall health. In addition to improving joint health, they may facilitate a balanced monthly cycle for women.
- Rose Geranium Oil: It may help support your adrenal system, which regulates your metabolism, immune system, and response to stress. It soothes you down and improves your mood. It may also boost libido by promoting sensual feelings. According to a study published in 2017, geranium and rose may help raise estrogen levels in women experiencing menopausal symptoms, which impact a woman’s ability to conceive naturally.
- Clary Sage Oil: Is known as the woman's oil. In addition to stress reduction, it offers many health benefits such as reduction in muscle spasms, pain, and inflammation. It may also boost your sexual wellness and libido along with strengthening the immune system and minimizing the effect of harmful bacteria.
- Sandalwood Nut Oil: It is rich in Ximenynic acid, which helps in reducing inflammation and also improves blood flow to vital organs. Also, it is full of antioxidants, which may strengthen your hair and give you healthier, more vibrant skin. According to a 2014 study, the active compounds in sandalwood may lower inflammation markers in the body called cytokines.
A study published in the Journal of Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice revealed that sandalwood aromatherapy helped reduce stress and anxiety among patients receiving palliative care
The Journey to Pregnancy Begins With
A Healthier, Stress-Free You
Unchecked, chronic stress plays a large roll with trying to have a baby. In fact, stress canincrease your time to conception by almost 30%.
That said, acupuncture can help you manage chronic stress and boost your fertility. According to a study published in the British Medical Journal, women who choose to complement their fertility treatment (e.g. IVF) with acupuncture are up to 65% more likely to conceive successfully than women who only receive fertility treatment.
Moreover, the same study also established a connection between acupuncture and improved egg quality, stronger uterine lining, and that it helps facilitate implantation.
Another study carried out by Christian-Lauritzen-Institut, Germany, revealed that women who received acupuncture while undergoing assisted reproduction therapy (ART) experienced a higher rate of successful outcomes than those who did not receive acupuncture.
What is acupuncture?
Acupuncture is an ancient therapeutic discipline of Chinese medicine. It involves inserting fine needles in the skin at specific points. If you do not want needles, you can also opt for a needle-less acupuncture technology called the LLLT
These areas can facilitate the flow of positive energy throughout your body. Acupuncture can also help eliminate the negative energy that may be contributing to your stress and anxiety. It promotes the human body’s natural healing response. It may also align your nervous, endocrine, immune, cardiovascular, and digestive systems.
Experts believe there are many ways acupuncture can aid in boosting fertility.
- Acupuncture helps release chemicals called neurotransmitters, through which our brain communicates with the rest of the body. In addition to helping proper organ function, neurotransmitters regulate reproductive hormones. The release of these neurotransmitters through acupuncture can help attain hormonal balance and may also help with ovulation, and menstrual cycle regulation.
- Acupuncture facilitates improved ovarian function through enhanced circulation to the ovaries and the uterus. A healthy uterus is vital for correct embryo implantation and may also reduce miscarriage risk by keeping the fetus well-nourished.
- Acupuncture may also improve the quality of eggs in women, including those with a low AMH (low ovarian reserve). It has also been shown to help regulate and lower high FSH.
- If you’re battling unexplained Infertility, acupuncture may be highly beneficial. It may improve your chances of a successful outcome if you’re reciting fertility treatments such as IVF and IUI.
- Acupuncture can help control stress by reducing the release of cortisol and stimulating the release of dopamine and serotonin, commonly known as the "feel-good hormones". In addition to stabilizing your mood, these hormones can also regulate eating and sleeping habits. All of these factors will help contribute to a healthier pregnancy.
- Acupuncture may be equally beneficial to counter male factor infertility. It has been shown to increase low sperm counts and improve sperm quality.
Aging & Declining Egg Quality – Modern reproductive medicine has long held the view that egg quality declines with aging.
Mitochondria are the tiny organelles that power the cells within our bodies. A Woman's eggs have a much higher mitochondria concentration than any other cell in the body; approximately 200 times more.
ATP is the primary source from which our cells derive energy. As we get older, the mitochondria of our eggs aren’t able to produce as much ATP. Since the rate of division and embryo implantation are directly dependent on how much energy (ATP) the eggs are producing, a weakened energy generation can negatively impact fertility.
Most reproductive medicine experts believe that after 35 years of age, the eggs wear down mitochondria, and by age 40, as many as 9 out of 10 eggs may be abnormal.
Is there a way to counter age-related infertility?
The short answer – YES there is. Fresh research with low-level laser therapy (LLLT) in Denmark and Japan, has opened the possibility that it may enhance both egg quality and fertility in women.
LLLT is a non-invasive, painless, and cutting-edge clinical treatment and carries a low risk as it does not use ionizing radiation.
A study published in Fertility and Sterility showed that implantation rates were significantly higher in cases where Low-Level Laser Therapy was used before and after embryo transfer in IVF.
Other studies have shown that incorporating low-level laser therapy significantly boosted women’s pregnancy rates, even when they had been unsuccessful with IVF.
LLLT was used on volunteers’ acupuncture points on the neck and abdomen. The results established a direct connection between LLLT and enhanced mitochondrial activity, a boost in ATP production, increased blood flow, and a reduction in oxidative damage. More importantly, it was observed that LLLT may lead to better pregnancy rates among women experiencing age-related fertility issues or those who have gone through unsuccessful IVF cycles.
When should you consider LLLT?
The following conditions warrant the use of LLLT.
- If you have not responded well to conventional therapies
- If you have gone through a failed cycle
- If you have experience reduced blood circulation to the uterus or ovaries
- If you have age-related egg quality issues including low AMH, high FSH, poor responder, you’re 35 & above.
- If you have complications with the uterine lining including endometriosis, history of abdominal surgery or D&C, or thin lining during IVF cycles.
- You struggle with muscular tensions in the surrounding areas. This can block both nerve and vascular supply.
- You experience hormonal imbalance such as PCOS
Disclaimer: While our customers have reported experiencing these benefits but they are not verified by the FDA. Always consult a medical doctor before modifying your diet, using any new product, drug, supplement, or doing any new exercises.
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