Quality sleep, other wellness practices improve reproductive capacity in women
A good night’s sleep and other habits related to well-being can have a collective positive effect on women and their attempts to conceive, according to a study presented at the ASRM Scientific Congress & Expo.
Specific habits described in an course called “The Science of Well-Being” developed at Yale University have been shown in research to generate happiness for those who put them into practice, Rocío Soledad Iaizzo, BSc, an embryologist with the Procrearte reproductive health clinic in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and colleagues reported.
These habits include “savoring” life by focusing on the present, expressing gratitude, performing random acts of kindness, maintaining social contact, exercising and sleeping well.
The researchers surveyed 74 women who were trying to conceive before age 36 years and asked them to rate how much time they spent on each of these habits during their conception efforts.
Also, the researchers asked the women about their natural pregnancies, spontaneous abortions and assisted reproduction treatments — including low and high complexity and oocyte donation — to measure their reproductive capacity.
The researchers then assessed the impact of each habit separately and cumulatively. Sleep quality was the only habit that had an individual significant impact on reproductive capacity (P = .0197), although the sum of all the habits had a statistically significant impact as well (P = .0278).
“Women who invested a lot of time in these habits showed similar results with women who practiced a little of every one of them, but better results than those who invested no time at all in most habits or very little time in five or fewer habits,” Iaizzo said during the presentation.
These results demonstrate a synergistic effect when these habits are combined that enhances the reproductive capacity of the women who practice them and improves the probability of pregnancy success, the researchers said.
Further, the researchers said, it is important for providers to remember not just the physiological well-being of women during treatment but their the psychological well-being as well.
“Therefore, the importance lies in practicing the habit, not in how much time is dedicated to it,” Iaizzo said. “It is probably the quality of the practice and the commitment with which it is carried out that matters the most.”
References:
- Iaizzo RS, et al. Abstract P-627. Presented at: ASRM Scientific Congress & Expo; Oct. 17-20, 2021; Baltimore (hybrid meeting).
- Yale University. The science of well-being. https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being. Accessed Nov. 8, 2021.