Genesis Fertility Clinic Blog
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January 19, 2010
Exercise and Female Fertility
When I talk to my mother about infertility, she always asks me to tell my patients to “go on a vacation and stop exercising so much.” Very lucid, and there is some evidence she is right, at least about exercise.
There have been two notable, large studies supporting her belief. One by Morris et al. (2006) found that women who had enrolled in a fertility treatment programme and reported exercising 4 hours or more per week for 1–9 years previously were 40% less likely to have a live birth, almost three times more likely to experience IVF cycle
cancellation, and twice as likely to have an implantation failure or pregnancy loss.
More recently (2009), a Norwegian study by Gudmundsdottir et al. found that women who exercised for more than 60 minutes or to “exhaustion” every day were more likely to be infertile. Women who exercised to be “sweating and out of breath” for 15-30 minutes 1-3 times per week had improved fertility compared to women who didn’t exercise at all. So, moderation seems to be the key – just like our mothers have always told us.
So if your new year’s resolution was to exercise more, don’t go overboard or it might lessen your fertility.
Happy New Year!
Dr. Beth Taylor, MD, FRCSC
Reproductive Endocrinology & Infertility