How To Boost Your Fertility? Sleep More!
- Becky
- Jun 4
- 7 min read
If you're trying to figure out how to boost your fertility naturally, don't overlook the power of quality sleep.
We all sleep at some point every day. Most of us, however, don’t sleep as much as our bodies would like, and we walk around in a chronic state of mild sleep-deprivation.
I suspect that you understand on a basic level that sleep is when you power down and recharge, And when you don’t sleep enough, you don’t feel great either mentally or physically. But there’s a lot more going on than that.
Sleep is when our bodies:
Process all the things we’ve learned over the course of the last day, creating new memories and solidifying learning
Repair damaged cells and tissues
Regulate blood sugar and fat
Get rid of waste products
Strengthen our immune systems
Regulate cortisol (stress hormone) production
Produce our reproductive hormones
Yes, you read that right. Sleep is when our bodies regulate and produce our reproductive hormones including progesterone, luteinizing hormone, and follicle stimulating hormone. We’ll come back to that in a minute, but let’s briefly talk about how it has come to be that most of us don’t sleep enough.
Why is Sleep So Undervalued?
Plain and simple, we live in a society that values “getting things done,” and many of us see sleep as an impediment to productivity.
In addition, we live in an age when you can be continually connected and/or distracted. You can work remotely late into the night, doom scroll on social media, or binge-watch the latest greatest series on a streaming service. Why would you ever want to go to bed?! 😉
Unfortunately, though, ignoring your need for rest could be holding you back if you're wondering how to boost your fertility.
Sleep, Hormones, and Reproductive Health
Here are 3 facts you should know:
Your body has an internal clock, commonly known as your circadian rhythm, that controls your sleep-wake cycles.
You also have an endocrine system, which is your body’s amazing messaging system, and your hormones are the tool your body uses to send those messages.
Your endocrine system and your circadian rhythm work closely together.
Many of your hormones are controlled by your circadian rhythm, and their levels rise and fall throughout the day. This is the case with estrogen, progesterone, FSH (follicle stimulating hormone), and LH (luteinizing hormone). When you don’t honor your own unique circadian rhythm, these pulses can get thrown off and you may not have enough of the hormones you need for a successful ovulation, implantation, or pregnancy.
In addition, you have another hormone called cortisol, which is commonly known as your primary stress hormone. Cortisol is also regulated by your circadian rhythm. If you’re sleeping the proper amount, your cortisol level will be highest just as you wake up, and then it’ll steadily fall throughout the day. When you don’t get enough sleep your cortisol level doesn’t rise as high as it should in the morning, and then it doesn’t drop as low as it should throughout the day either–so even though it doesn’t rise as high, it remains elevated overall.
The next layer here is that cortisol has a suppressing effect on your reproductive hormones.
If you go back to our origins thousands and thousands of years ago, this makes sense. Lack of sleep signals to your body that something is wrong–it’s a stressor. And in times of stress, your body needs to protect itself and conserve energy and resources, which means it’s a bad time to create a new life that is going to have to share that energy and those resources as it grows inside of you.
All of that is a very long way of saying that when your sleep is disrupted, your hormone cycles are disrupted too—and that’s not great news if you’re hoping to boost your fertility.
How Do I Know If Sleep Issues Are Contributing to My Fertility Problems?
If you have:
irregular menstrual cycles
ovulation issues
been told that you have poor egg quality
been diagnosed with “unexplained infertility”
Then it’s 100% worth evaluating your sleep and making some small changes to see if they have an effect on your cycle or your fertility.
Beyond those big obvious fertility-related issues, there are lots of other signs of sleep deprivation that you might also notice. For example, is it really hard to get out of bed in the morning? Do you hit the snooze button over and over again? Do you usually have enough energy to get through the day without a lot of caffeine, or are you on a continual coffee drip?
Also think about how you feel mentally and emotionally. Sleep deprivation makes it way harder to cope with anything and everything! Fertility issues are already hard to cope with, but if you feel yourself stuck on negative thoughts, or continually dealing with worst-case-scenario thinking, or always have the feeling that absolutely everything is wrong, and there’s no end to it, then sleep could certainly be a factor.
There’s really no downside to sleeping more–you’re not going to hurt yourself–so if you’re having any fertility issues, in my opinion it’s always worth experimenting with more sleep and seeing if it makes a difference.
Sleep: Does Quality or Quantity Matter More?
In general it is the quality of your sleep that matters more than the quantity. And that’s because sleep quantity isn’t a “one size fits all” proposition.
We’re often told that we need 7-8 hours of sleep each night, but that is only a guideline–everyone’s sleep needs are different, and to some extent genetic even.
I’m sure we all know at least one person who sleeps 4 hours every night and is super-healthy, and then on the flip side we know people who need to sleep for 9 hours to really feel their best.
A Quick Aside to the Men
Studies indicate that lack of sleep affects sperm quality, too! So you’re not off the hook–getting a little more sleep could potentially help you, too.
Easy Ways to Improve Your Sleep and Boost Your Fertility
Let’s talk practical tips. Here are 7 things someone can do today to start improving your sleep:
Make sure your sleep environment (aka your bedroom) is comfortable for you. That means:
your room should be at a temperature you find comfortable,
your room should be dark or softly lit with a nightlight if that’s what you prefer,
your room should be quiet or not–white noise or gentle music are fine if they help you relax,
phones and other electronics should be put away,
your pjs, sheets, pillows, etc. should all be comfy.
Create a bedtime routine. A bedtime routine is an important signal to both your mind and body that it’s time to downshift and get ready to sleep. It becomes especially key if your days are often busy or chaotic, if you’re stressed out about something, or if you generally have trouble falling asleep,
A large component of a modern bedtime routine is getting off a screen. The standard advice is that you should turn your screens off an hour before bed, but I know that’s not realistic for most of us, myself included! You do, though, want to try to put some separation between screen time and bedtime, even if it’s just 10 or 15 minutes to start.
It also includes the mundane tasks of brushing teeth, washing your face, and whatever other beauty or hygiene-related things you do before bed. In addition, your bedtime routine might include reading, relaxation exercises, breathing exercises, or gentle stretching.
Play around with how much you sleep–start small and get to bed 10-15 minutes earlier. If you find that the change makes you feel good, you can gradually add more sleep once you get into the groove.
Make sure you’re getting some exercise during the day. Exercise does lots of neat things that make it easier for you to get to sleep. For example it:
helps your body make melatonin, one of the hormones that regulates your sleep-wake cycle (and is also important for egg quality!)
reduces stress which leads to lower cortisol levels, which leads to better sleep.
makes you tired!
Grab a pen and notebook and do some journaling. It’s a great tool to help you get all your worries out before you get into bed.
Learn a few relaxation techniques that can help you get to bed faster. You don’t need anything fancy, just some breathing exercises, muscle relaxation, or a calming visualization of some sort.
Put your phone down. Yes, I know I said above that this is a hard one, but I wanted to come back to it for a second. One reason phones and other screens are known to keep us awake is because they emit a blue light–just like the sun. Because your body can’t tell the difference, the blue light from your screens can mix up your sleep-wake cycle and make it hard to sleep.
An equally important reason to put your phone away, however, is that after a certain point in the evening, nothing good comes of being on a device! Think about it–as the hours tick by, aren’t you more likely to lapse into doom scrolling on social media or checking in with Dr. Google? Just saying…😂😉
Gotta Circle Back to Melatonin
I mentioned this earlier, but melatonin is important when it comes to sleep, and is being recognized more and more as being important for improving egg quality and creating better IVF outcomes.
As with any supplement, however, don’t just go out and buy some melatonin and start taking it because if you don’t use it the right way for what you’re trying to accomplish, you could actually end up making your existing sleep issues worse or creating new ones!
Sleep is one of the most overlooked yet powerful tools in your fertility toolkit. It affects everything from hormone production to emotional resilience, and improving your sleep could be a simple but game-changing shift on your fertility journey.
If you’re struggling to get pregnant and wondering how to boost your fertility in a way that actually supports your whole body, let’s talk. I offer free 30-minute calls where we can explore what’s going on and see what small, manageable changes might help you feel more calm, in control, and supported. Click here to schedule your free call now.
