Does Exercise Increase Fertility?

When you’re trying to get pregnant, it’s more important than ever to look after your health by staying active and eating well. Working out brings a wealth of amazing benefits for physical and mental well-being, and research shows that exercise matters for female fertility too. But how much exercise do you need for fertility? Is there such a thing as too much? And what about exercise during IVF or to help manage conditions like PCOS and ovulation issues? In this article, we give you the complete lowdown on how to increase your fertility naturally through exercise.

Did you know that your weight can influence your chances of conceiving? If you are underweight, overweight, or obese, studies show that you can have more difficulty getting pregnant.

A healthy Body Mass Index (BMI) falls between the range of 18.5 to 24.9. A BMI of under 18.5 (underweight) and over 30 (obese) can interfere with female fertility by disrupting ovulation, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Obesity can also reduce the success of fertility treatments, reduce egg quality, and increase the risk for miscarriage and pregnancy complications including gestational diabetes and high blood pressure (pre-eclampsia).

Being overweight or obese can reduce male fertility as well by altering sex hormones including testosterone and cause low sperm counts and sperm motility.

So, if you have a high BMI and are experiencing trouble conceiving, a bit of weight loss can go a long way in improving your fertility. But even if your BMI is in the healthy range, exercising a few times per week can help you get pregnant.

Studies have proven that women who do regular, moderate exercise get pregnant faster than those who don’t work out on a regular basis.

By staying active, you can:

In addition, research has found that exercising for 30 minutes each day can decrease the risk of infertility caused by ovulation issues. This is because working out helps to regulate the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis, which is responsible for the production and secretion of reproductive hormones.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that all adults between the ages of 18 and 64 do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity each week. Alternatively, you can do at least 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity, or a combination of moderate and vigorous exercise, each week. In addition, people should do strength exercises at least two days per week that target the major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abs, chest, shoulders, and arms).

So what is moderate vs. vigorous activity? Moderate exercise is any physical activity that raises your heart and breathing rate and makes you feel warmer.

Examples of moderate activity include:

Vigorous physical activity (also known as high intensity exercise, or HIT) is exercise that makes you feel very out of breath, so you can only say a few words before needing to get more air.

Examples of vigorous exercise include:

Examples of strength exercises include:

When building up your exercise routine to increase fertility, be aware that there can be too much of a good thing! Over-exercising, or being physically active for over an hour every day, can actually raise the risk of ovulation issues and amenorrhea (missed periods), which causes greater difficulty getting pregnant. Competitive athletes may be recommended by their doctors to cut down on their exercise regime to a more moderate level to improve their chances of conceiving.

During pregnancy, the WHO recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week. It’s not a good idea to start exercising vigorously once you’re pregnant if you weren’t previously physically active.