I hardly dare go on, yet again, about the benefits of exercise. But this is a new one and a surprising benefit at that. If you want to conceive, start exercising.
Yes, after all the usual payoffs of exercise – lowering your cholesterol, blood pressure, risk of heart attack, stroke, cancer, obesity and diabetes – comes the finding that it can boost your chance of getting pregnant. That applies to IVF, too. In fact, especially to IVF, if you’re a couple using it to conceive.
A study from the University of North Carolina, US, has shown that women who were most active before fertility treatment were three times more likely to conceive as women who were least active.
And it doesn’t have to be strenuous exercise. Even doing housework can raise a woman’s chances of getting pregnant.
For the study, 108 women seeking IVF treatment were asked to answer a questionnaire about how much exercise they were taking, including keeping active, doing housework, shopping, doing the school run and taking care of their families.
Four different scenarios were examined: household and domestic, occupation and work, active habits like walking and sports.
Measured in these ways, women with the highest activity levels were three times more likely to get pregnant than women with the lowest. What could account for this finding?
There are several possibilities. Exercise is a normaliser. For muscles to work efficiently during exercise, all the body systems have to work together optimally.
This means the heart, the lungs, the kidneys, the liver, the blood, the brain and hormones all have to be playing in tune.
It’s logical to expect reproductive organs to benefit from this harmony, a harmony felt by every cell in the body including the egg from which a baby will form.
Exercise lowers your blood pressure, lessens anxiety, treats depression and encourages sound sleep – all of which is helpful if you’re trying for a baby.
But probably most important of all, exercise helps to regulate insulin levels and stops them climbing too high.
Too much insulin is thought to be harmful to the developing egg. Exercise is one of the best ways to keep levels low and stable.
While this study looked specifically at women using IVF, it’s probable that the results could apply to women trying for a baby naturally.
So what should you do? It would seem best to become more active several months ahead of conception if you can.
No need to go crazy. Just the usual. Walk, rather than drive. Climb stairs. Stay on your feet. Keep up your usual levels of exercise including doing sports.
What's the difference between varicose veins and spider veins?
These are knobbly swellings of veins where blood pools due to back pressure and damage to the valves within the veins that prevent backward flow of blood.
They most commonly occur in the lower legs, often after a deep vein thrombosis and in the rectum, where they form haemorrhoids.
Anything which causes a rise in lower abdominal pressure will cause haemorrhoids. So they’re common in pregnancy, with a chronic cough and constipation. They can be treated with injections to shrivel the veins or surgery.
These are very tiny permanently dilated veins in the surface of the skin. They are so tiny that they resemble the legs of a spider, hence their name.
They're usually a deep red-bluish colour, are plainly visible, and can appear in crops affecting different areas of the skin, but they are common on the thighs.
They appear with increasing age as the skin thins due to loss of collagen so that the veins become visible. They can be treated with electrolysis - but only in very skilled hands otherwise they might worsen.
How to make your house a safe place for toddlers
Patio doors must be fitted with laminated glass or toughened glass.
Use a floor-standing or wall-mounted fireguard in front of the fire, but always make sure that it’s securely fitted to the wall. Don’t put cups, mugs or ashtrays on the fireguard.
Use socket covers to stop your child poking objects into plug sockets. Neutral-coloured covers are best so they don’t attract your child’s attention.
Avoid trailing flexes from lights, TV, stereo, DVD players or any other kind of electrical equipment.
Don’t have poisonous houseplants such as irises and daffodils.
Don’t leave alcohol, cigarettes, matches, or lighters lying around.
Keep fragile, breakable items well out of your child’s reach.
Don’t place hot or heavy objects on low tables.
All bookcases and shelving should be securely fixed on to the wall.
Avoid furniture with sharp corners.
A procedure used to determine compatibility between the blood of a person who requires a blood transfusion and that of a blood donor.
Red blood cells from the donor are mixed with serum from the recipient, and likewise, red blood cells from the recipient are mixed with a serum from the donor.
After a short while, the mixtures are examined on a glass slide under a microscope in the lab.
A grouping together of the red cells to form a small clump indicates the presence of antibodies in the serum, showing that the blood isn’t compatible for transfusion.
But if no clumping occurs, the donor’s blood may be safely transfused to the person who needs it.
2 minutes on immunodeficiency
What is it?
Immunodeficiency is the complete or partial failure of the immune system, the body’s natural defence system against disease. If the immune system fails at some point, this is known as “acquired” immunodeficiency.
What are the causes?
In the most infamous form, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) destroys a type of white blood cell, the T cell, and this causes progressive weakness and vulnerability of the immune system.
Infections such as measles or flu damage the body’s ability to fight infections. Usually, this type of immunodeficiency is mild, and the immune system returns to normal.
A mild form of immunodeficiency may develop in chronic disorders, such as diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, which reduce the immune system’s ability to resist other diseases.
Cancer and lymphoma may cause a more severe form of immunodeficiency by damaging immune cells and interfering with the production of white blood cells.
The long-term use of corticosteroids can cause immunodeficiency.
Immunosuppressant drugs, given to prevent the rejection of an organ following a transplant, lead to immunodeficiency and weaken the ability to fight infections.
Chemotherapy can damage bone marrow, where the majority of blood cells are made, resulting in acquired immunodeficiency.
Immunodeficiency may develop after the surgical removal of the spleen.
What might be done?
Your doctor may suggest continual low doses of antibiotics, antiviral drugs and/or antifungal drugs and immunisations, such as the pneumococcus vaccine, to protect against pneumococcal pneumonia. The effects of immunodeficiency can usually be controlled by treatment, although immunodeficiency due to HIV infection tends to worsen over time.
Website of the day
Did you know that alcohol is the second biggest risk factor after smoking and its misuse costs the NHS £2.7billion each year?
This week is Alcohol Awareness Week, so to find out stats for your region and other useful information, visit the website.