Quitting the pill before TTC

The standard advice to quit the pill whenever you're ready to get pregnant is a disservice to parents. In this episode, we cover why you need to give yourself at least one year after quitting hormonal contraception to get pregnant.
- Re-igniting your innate hormonal cascade
- Replenishing vital nutrients that you and your baby need for conception, pregnancy, and postpartum
- Discovering and healing any underlying hormonal dysregulation
- The surprising connection between synthetic estrogen, leaky gut, and inflammation

Conscious Conception Podcast is LIVE

Unveiling Conscious Conception, a podcast about manifesting the life and the world you wish for your children.

Why Circadian Rhythm Matters for Fertility

Why circadian health for fertility?

Each and every one of our human bodies is governed by a circadian rhythm. This is the rhythm that syncs our sleep/wake cycle, and the many distinct pulses of hormones our bodies produce throughout the day. Your circadian rhythm is what gets thrown off track if you travel overseas to a different timezone. Its common knowledge that this type of travel will throw off your sleep, but have you also noticed how it throws off your digestion, and can sometimes cause your menstrual cycle to be longer or shorter than usual?

That’s because the circadian rhythm is the master clock that syncs all of the functions and messages of our body, not just when we feel sleep and when we feel alert. Strengthening your circadian rhythm improves so many different individual functions of your body in one fell swoop, rather than taking a piecemeal approach. In other words optimizing your circadian rhythm is a fundamental and pretty comprehensive approach to balancing your hormones, your metabolism and your overall health.

 Your circadian rhythm functions through a cellular clock in your brain. This cellular body clock is located in a structure of the brain called the suprachiasmatic nucleus. The suprachiasmatic nucleus is affected by changes in light. These changes in light exposure drive the clock and drive the rhythms of your body. In a dark environment at night this mechanism will increase production of melatonin which helps you sleep. During the day when light is abundant this mechanism will suppress melatonin production helping you feel awake and alert.

 But it’s not just about sleeping and being awake.

 This rhythm also regulates many of our bodies hormonal and metabolic signals and this is why we’re interested in the circadian rhythm for fertility. Your circadian rhythm also helps regulate the levels and pulses of sex hormones like LH and FSH estrogen and progesterone. These hormones also have daily peaks and valleys, just like melatonin does. When your circadian rhythm gets disrupted your sex hormone rhythm also gets disrupted. And of course that can lead to menstrual irregularities, and a disruption in timing of ovulation.

The most obvious example of this is how your menstrual cycle can get a little messed up when you travel to a different timezone.

Let’s talk about a few other reasons why the circadian rhythm and associated hormonal rhythms are important for preconception.

For one, melatonin is, as we mentioned, a critical part of regulating your sleep. And sleep is, of course, is a critical function that you need to maintain your immune system, metabolism, and cellular repair. But melatonin also acts as a powerful antioxidant and has been shown to influence reproductive functioning like healthy embryo implantation. So like most things in the body melatonin does not just have one purpose. We need it for sleep and we also need it for fertility.

Another circadian element is cortisol. Cortisol is another critical hormone that you may have heard of as your stress hormone. Cortisol has normal ebbs and flows, peaks and valleys just like the other hormones we’ve discussed. But, when your circadian rhythm is disrupted or you are engaged in high stress environments more than you should be, your cortisol can skyrocket and stay a lot higher than it should be. This high, sustained peak in cortisol can interfere with ovulation menstrual cycles, and it can also contribute to reproductive metabolic disorders like PCOS.

Male fertility is also affected by circadian rhythm. There is strong evidence to show that sperm quality may be influenced by time of day. Just as estrogen and progesterone levels change throughout the day so do testosterone levels.

So how do you know if your circadian rhythm is weak, and how can you improve it?

---

Strengthening your circadian rhythm for healthy hormones

So how do you crack that circadian rhythm? How do you get it stronger so that you sleep better, so that your metabolism is humming, and your ovulation is strong?

You start with your morning routine. This is what a morning routine can look like if you’re trying to support healthy hormones and strong circadian rhythm.

Keep mind here that you naturally have a cortisol rise in the morning, which is what helps you wake up and feel alert in the morning. That is a normal and healthy rise in cortisol. But far too often many of us have elements of our morning routine that make that cortisol go much higher than it naturally wants to go and makes it stay higher for longer than it would otherwise.

So here’s a typical morning routine for the modern woman:
You wake up in the morning to your phone alarm
You crawl out of bed you put on a pot of coffee
While you’re waiting for the coffee to brew you check your phone you realize how many emails came in overnight
You look at your schedule you’re running late…
and all of a sudden you’ve added caffeine, screen light, and a whole lot of anticipatory stress into the first 15 minutes of your morning. Your normal, healthy cortisol rise is now a spike two times the normal amount, and its not going down any time soon. And that’s just not the way you want to start your day or to treat your adrenal glands.

Let’s walk through what to do instead step-by-step.

You wake up, you get out of bed and you walk straight to the sunlight.

Yup, straight to the sunlight.

Okay, fine, if you need to pee or if you absolutely need a sip of water, go ahead and take care of the bodily needs of yourself or of your family members, but then go straight to the light. So what do we mean by light? If you are lucky enough to have easy access to outdoor space then this is going to be easy for you. Walk straight outside onto your porch your patio your yard. If you don’t have easy access to the outdoors immediately from your home, like for example, if you live in a high-rise and you have to take a stairs or an elevator to get outside, you can either tie up your laces and take a little stroll to get outside, or at the very least go to a window and open up the window. Yes, even if it’s cold outside.

The reason this is important is because when you are receiving those early morning light frequencies through the cones in the rods of your eyes, you are providing critical information to your suprachiasmatic nucleus (remember, the master clock!)

This is the simplest thing you can do to strengthen your circadian rhythm but it is often times the hardest routine for people to implement. But here’s the thing… You don’t need to spend tons of time outside in the morning to receive the benefits of morning light for your circadian rhythm. Especially when you’re starting out and this is a new habit, you can start with 2-5 minutes. Make it easy for yourself to establish this practice regularly.

If you’re worried about not having enough time to dedicate in the morning to this small routine you may have to wake up a bit earlier than you might already. If you’re someone who has to sleep through sunrise because of your work schedule, just do your best. For example, if you are a shift worker, you should prioritize your sleep and get a full rest, and then whenever you wake up in the morning step outside go to your window and get the light at that point.

---

Once you begin to practice this simple ritual of waking up with the sun, and getting bright morning light into your eyes, you are likely to sleep more soundly, have more energy throughout the day, and begin to see stronger and more regular ovulation symptoms. Circadian rhythm strengthening is not an afterthought for fertility and pregnancy preparation. It’s the first thing you should be dialing in.

How Abdominal Massage Can Help Combat SIBO

Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) is a condition where excessive bacteria accumulate in the small intestine, leading to bloating, discomfort, and a host of digestive issues. It is an increasingly common problem, and many of those afflicted have difficulty resolving SIBO at its root cause. While conventional treatments often focus on antibiotics, herbal protocols, and dietary changes, there's a growing interest in alternative therapies, such as abdominal massage, for managing and alleviating SIBO symptoms. In this blog post, we'll explore how abdominal massage can play a crucial role in improving digestive health and addressing the factors that contribute to chronic and acute SIBO.

How Abdominal Massage Helps the Ileocecal Valve

The ileocecal valve (ICV) is a critical structure in the digestive system, acting as a gateway between the small intestine and the large intestine. It ensures that contents move in one-direction flow from the small intestine to the large intestine, preventing backflow. SIBO is a condition that is still vastly misunderstood, but it is thought that some types of SIBO can be caused in part by backflow of bacteria from the large intestine to the small intestine through the ICV. In other words, dysfunction of the ICV can contribute to SIBO by allowing bacteria from the large intestine to enter and colonize the small intestine.

Abdominal massage can improve the function of the ICV by reducing tension and promoting proper movement and alignment of the surrounding tissues. Gentle, targeted massage techniques can help to:

1. Stimulate Nerve Function: Massage can enhance the neural connections that regulate the ICV, ensuring it opens and closes appropriately.

2. Reduce Inflammation: By promoting blood flow and lymphatic flow and drainage, massage can help reduce local inflammation, which is often associated with ICV dysfunction.

3. Relieve Muscle Tension: Releasing tension in the abdominal muscles can alleviate pressure on the ICV, allowing it to function more effectively.

The Role of Stomach Acid in Fighting SIBO

Stomach acid is essential for maintaining a healthy digestive system. It not only aids in breaking down food but also acts as a barrier to pathogenic bacteria, preventing them from proliferating in the small intestine. Low stomach acid levels, a condition known as hypochlorhydria, can compromise this defense mechanism, making the small intestine more susceptible to bacterial overgrowth. With the modern American diet, many of us have lower stomach than what is healthy and essential to a healthy digestive journey.

Manual and massage therapy, including organ mobilization and abdominal massage, can support the production of stomach acid through several mechanisms:

1. Stimulating the Vagus Nerve: The vagus nerve plays a crucial role in stimulating the production of stomach acid. Abdominal massage can activate the vagus nerve, enhancing gastric secretions and improving overall digestion. In fact, the vagus nerve runs alongside the inner part of the stomach. When a skilled practitioner contacts and mobilizes the borders of the stomach, they are able to directly affect the vagus nerve and surrounding tissues.

2. Improving Blood Flow: Increased blood circulation to the stomach and digestive organs from massage can support the production and secretion of stomach acid. Stomach acid is released both through nerve signaling and hormonal signaling. Hormonal signaling occurs through our bloodstream. Improving blood flow to the stomach improves the efficiency and clarity of this hormone signaling that cues the production of stomach acid.

3. Reducing Stress: Both chronic and acute stress is known to reduce stomach acid production. In order to produce stomach acid, the body requires a parasympathetic state of “rest and digest”. Stress hormones like cortisol prevent the nerve and hormone signaling that initiates stomach acid production. Massage therapy helps to lower stress levels, thereby allowing the body to re-enter a parasympathetic state that potentiates the production of stomach acid levels.

Abdominal Massage for SIBO

If you are struggling with SIBO, chances are you’ve sought professional help. Perhaps you’ve seen a dietician, a gastroenterologist, or even a naturopath. In most cases these professionals offer help, but are missing the critical piece of hands-on tissue mobilization that can be so critical for helping resolve symptoms associated with SIBO. If you’re looking to add manual or massage therapy into your SIBO care protocol, here are a few practical tips:

1. Find a Professional: Working with a trained manual therapist can ensure that techniques are applied correctly and safely.

2. Self-Massage Techniques: Simple self-massage techniques can be effective and can complement the deeper work you do with a therapist. A trained therapist will instruct you on how to find your ileocecal valve, and how to apply other self-massage techniques to encourage proper gut motility.

3. Consistency is Key: Regular practice of abdominal massage can yield the best results, promoting ongoing digestive health and function.

Abdominal massage offers a natural, non-invasive approach to managing SIBO by enhancing the function of the ileocecal valve and supporting stomach acid production. Whether through professional manual therapy or self-massage techniques, incorporating these practices into your routine can help to promote a healthier, more balanced digestive system. If you’re struggling with SIBO, consider exploring abdominal massage as a complementary therapy to your treatment plan.