According to a new study, women can improve the chances of conceiving by getting quality sleep. The most significant step to take to increasing sleep quality and duration is to have a consistent sleep schedule.
The study which was carried out in Hanabusa Women’s Clinic in Kobe, Japan, interviewed 208 women who underwent IVF and found improved fertilization rates when they got uninterrupted sleep.
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The survey contained questions on the duration of sleep, sleep medication consumption and sleep disturbances. The applicants were split in three categories: no sleep difficulties, slight difficulties and severe difficulties.
The pioneers behind the study demonstrated that quality sleep was the single most contributing factor to eggs being fertilized and increased the chances of pregnancy. The eggs of those female participants who had no difficulty in sleeping were 20 per cent more likely to be fertilized than those that slept poorly.
The research study reported that:
- 67 per cent of eggs from participants with quality uninterrupted sleep were successfully fertilized.
- 63.1 per cent fertilization rate for those with mild sleeping difficulties.
- 48.6 per cent fertilization rate for women with severe difficulties.
The study also showed that occasional moderate alcohol consumption improved a patient’s response to fertility treatments suggesting that alcohol in this case can lower an individual’s stress levels and induce sleep.
The results of the study were released at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine Annual Congress and this is a follow up to a previous study which showed that anything less than six hours per night resulted in a 20% decrease in a hormone critical for conception.
The researchers concluded that “Good sleep patterns can be one of the important daily habits for patients to improve their response to fertility treatments and increase their chances of pregnancy.”