Every activity can feel more risky when you’ve invested in in vitro fertilisation. Happily, regular exercise and staying active are recommended during IVF and other fertility treatments with only a few precautions. Two specific pieces of advice for those undergoing IVF are that you need to rest in the week your eggs are retrieved, as well as in the fortnight following your embryo transfer. These procedures are physically impactful and can also influence your mental and emotional states. In general, however, exercise is something that you can do to support your fertility treatments as well as your overall ability to conceive. The following are some evidence-based ways you can adjust your regimen to support getting pregnant.

Avoid extremes while exercising.

Extreme exercise places excessive stress on the body, which can make conception more challenging no matter how you’re trying to do it. By extreme exercise, we mean extreme sports, exercise undertaken in extreme heat or cold, and anything involving extreme intensity. If you are someone who enjoys high-intensity workouts regularly, it’s important to speak to your doctor about moderating your activity while you’re trying to conceive a baby.

Some women feel that weights are a vital part of their workout, and, while you may not need to skip them completely, it’s important to seek guidance from your healthcare team about what you’re lifting. Heavy weights (including kettlebells) are not recommended.

Contact sports, especially those that may risk injuring your abdomen, should also be avoided.

Some IVF providers say that the medication given to patients to stimulate follicle growth and mature your ovaries for retrieval may work more slowly as a result of intense exercise. Swimming, walking, and yoga are commonly recommended by IVF clinics. Seek out well-qualified and accredited teachers and let them know that you are undergoing fertility treatments and/or trying to conceive so they can advise you accordingly.

Prioritise Your Recovery Time as Much as Your Workouts

If you love to exercise daily, you may be neglecting the recovery time your body needs when you’re trying to conceive a baby. Stretching enough and cooling down with light activities like walking and gentle yoga are just as important as those activities that get your heart rate climbing.

This is especially true if you are not consuming enough food to offset the calories you are burning. The right foods are part of good exercise recovery. Our bodies are designed to create based on an abundance of nutrients required to sustain new life. If you’re unsure how to adjust your diet, we suggest you ask your doctor, midwife, or a dietitian who specialises in pregnancy and fertility care. Your diet is extremely important to your baby's health, and while you may be following guidelines on caffeine, alcohol, and supplements during preconception, ensuring you’re eating in line with your exercise habits is just as important. You’re not trying to lose weight (unless advised by a doctor), you're trying to create life!

Spend Time in Nature

Spending time outside while you exercise and/or recover will reduce your overall stress levels, which supports both the IVF process and trying to conceive naturally. IVF is a significant financial and temporal investment that no parent takes lightly. The medication can sometimes affect your mood and relationship with your partner in ways you didn’t expect. Outdoor walks, regularly exposing yourself to things you enjoy in a natural setting, free from phones and other distractions, can centre you and support our next top tip: finding a healthy balance.

Strive for Balance in Everything

Our bodies and brains work together, and ensuring the exercise you undertake during preconception is balanced with calmer, more relaxed behaviour will support your preconception journey.

While trying to create balance, a good rule of thumb is to always consider the opposite of everything you do. If you engage in a stimulating brainstorming session at work, are you taking the equivalent amount of time to engage in self-care, rest, and meditate? How long are you spending on your recovery after exercising? If you had to skip a meal today (which you should really work to avoid doing when trying to have a baby), are you trying to compensate for the calorie loss with healthy snacks? Striving for balance is setting yourself up for conception success and will be even more important when you are pregnant!

For more advice on getting pregnant faster, check out Unii’s Preconception Journey video course with Dr. Shree Datta.

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