The Benefits of Preconception Care
Preconception care not only plays an important role in achieving pregnancy, but also helps you to have a healthy pregnancy, create optimal health conditions for your bub, and supports you through the fourth trimester and breastfeeding (should you choose to).
Preconception care focuses on four key areas: supporting the health of both parents, improving nutritional status, addressing underlying medical conditions, and improving egg and sperm quality.
Preconception care can:
Improve your chance of conception
Improve your health during pregnancy
Improve the health of your child/ren
Reduce the risk of nutrient deficiencies in child/ren and mother post-partum
Reduce the risk of postnatal depression and anxiety
Reduce the risk of co-morbidities during pregnancy (such as gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia)
Reduce the risk of miscarriage (depending on the cause, unfortunately, some miscarriages cannot be prevented or explained)
Reduce symptoms during pregnancy
Nutrient Deficiencies
Addressing any nutrient deficiencies present in either parent is essential in preconception care. There are many specific nutrients required to replicate DNA (crucial for the healthy development of embryos and bubba’s growth in utero), as well as for successful implantation, sperm health and quality and egg quality. Nutritional deficiencies can also impact ovulation by creating imbalances in hormones. For example, magnesium and b vitamin deficiencies can interrupt optimal glucose and insulin metabolism, in underlying conditions of PCOS, this can lead to impaired ovulation.
At each stage of preconception care, different nutrients are required more than others, such as folate for implantation and the growth of the embryo to a foetus and infant). And these nutrients are more readily depleted, like zinc during the trying to conceive journey for males.
By optimising nutrient stores, improving the body’s consumption of nutrients, and addressing any underlying health conditions, you have a greater ability to ensure that you are creating genetic material optimally, and improving the health of your child/children by improving your own health too.
Did You Know?
Children can be born with nutrient deficiencies that were acquired during conception and pregnancy? This is why we look at preconception support from the very beginning, right through to the fourth trimester, so that we can ensure all parents and children are well-nourished and in optimal health.
Underlying Health Conditions
These underlying health conditions can have extensive impacts on conception:
Inflammation
Stress on the nervous system
Direct impact on the reproductive system such as lack of ovulation in PCOS
Physical barriers
Poor integrity of uterine lining (which may be seen in endometriosis and adenomyosis)
By addressing underlying factors and reducing the impact they have or resolving the issue (depending on the condition and situation), it can improve the environment for conception to occur. This can be achieved by speaking to your naturopath and utilising nutrition, lifestyle modifications, nutrients and herbs in a holistic approach. Other modalities, such as acupuncture, can also be highly beneficial alongside naturopathy.
Stress
Stress is a catch-22. The conception journey can be an emotional one and create a lot of stress for potential parents. This stress can then negatively impact ovulation, which can impede conception.
When you become stressed, you release stress hormones, which can then flood the nervous system. This flood of stress hormones can impact the pulsation action required of signalling hormones for ovulation in your brain, essentially confusing your ovulation cycle. This ovulation delay occurs much in the same way that stress hormones can delay menstruation.
Now, eliminating stress will not ensure conception, as usually, stress is only one of many underlying factors. In the same way that stress can impact ovulation signalling, poorly controlled glucose levels can also contribute to delayed or lack of ovulation.
Reducing stress can assist in improving glucose levels by reducing the potential stress eating, and from the physiological, chemical reactions in your body. When glucose levels are uncontrolled in our body, it too signals the release of stress hormones from our brain. In a similar mechanism to stress, this flood of epinephrine and noradrenaline can impede and impact ovulation. Caffeine, when ingested, also stimulates this stress response, So it would make sense that caffeine can impact sugar levels also.
There isn’t a clear-cut way to reduce stress, however, there are a variety of methods you can utilise to manage it. It’s all about finding what works for you. A counsellor is a great place to start, especially as the trying to conceive journey can be difficult. Being mentally prepared for this journey is just as important as being physically prepared for it. Mindfulness, meditation, grounding, self-care, herbal adaptogens and flower essences are all great ways to manage your stress naturally.
Nourishing your health and your partner’s health will only improve your chance of conception, your health during pregnancy and improve the health of your child/ren. By taking the time to plan for your conception journey, you can improve the health outcomes for everyone and minimise any risks involved.
If you are looking to start your conception journey soon and wanting some additional support to ensure you and your partner are off to a great start, book in for a free 15-minute consult so we can discuss how.
