How to Boost Your Fertility in Your 30s and 40s

Your age may be impacting your fertility, but it’s possible to preserve and restore your fertility into your 40s.

Trying to Get Pregnant in Your 30s and 40s

If you’re trying to get pregnant and you’re in your 30s or 40s, it’s hard not to wonder how much your age is impacting your ability to conceive. While it’s true that fertility naturally declines as you get older, reaching a certain age doesn’t define your fertility. Traditional East Asian Medicine (TEAM) recognizes that while aging is inevitable, there are tools, strategies, and practices that you can use to preserve and restore your ability to get pregnant.

By supporting your body with foods, herbs, moxibustion, and circulation-promoting exercises that improve cellular metabolism, minimize oxidative damage and inflammation, and increase circulation to your reproductive organs, TEAM has the ability to reverse cellular aging and increase your changes of getting and staying pregnant.

Let’s explore how fertility changes as you age and how TEAM can turn back the clock on your fertility potential.

How Aging Impacts Your Fertility According to Your OB/Gyn

From a Western medical perspective, fertility begins to decline in your early 30s and accelerates in your 40s. This is primarily due to a decrease in ovarian reserve—the number and quality of eggs remaining in your ovaries that are available for ovulation each month. As the number and quality of eggs and follicles decline, your ability to produce progesterone - the hormone that supports early pregnancy, also decreases. This is because the primary source of progesterone is the corpus luteum - a temporary gland that forms from your follicle after ovulation. Poor egg development means poor follicle development, poor follicle development means poor corpus luteum development, and poor corpus luteum development means insufficient progesterone production. Otherwise known as luteal phase defect.

Diminished ovarian reserve is a common diagnosis, but it isn’t irreversible.

That means that even if fertilization occurs, the egg and follicle may not have developed optimally, making early embryonic development more prone to genetic abnormalities and insufficient levels of progesterone to support implantation.

Additionally, modern stressors such as long work hours, environmental toxins, and poor sleep can amplify these challenges, leading to irregular cycles and reduced fertility potential.

The TCM Perspective on Fertility and Aging

In TEAM, fertility is deeply rooted in the health of the Kidney system. This system governs growth, reproduction, and aging. As you age, the energetic potential of the Kidneys naturally declines, which can manifest as reduced vitality, irregular cycles, or hormonal imbalance.

TEAM views this decline as a process that can be slowed and even partially reversed with proper care and lifestyle practices. Acupuncture or acupressure, herbal medicine, moxibustion, circulation promoting exercises, intentional food choices, and nourishing lifestyle practices can all be used to rejuvenate your reproductive system and restore hormone balance allowing you to get pregnant - even in your 30s and 40s.

How TCM Supports Fertility in Your 30s and 40s

Traditional East Asian Medicine treats your fertility from head to toe.

TEAM takes a whole-health approach to fertility, addressing physical, emotional, and environmental health. Here’s how its key practices work to support your body as you age:

Acupuncture/Acupressure: Enhancing Blood Flow and Balancing Hormones

Acupuncture and acupressure are one of the most effective tools in TEAM for fertility. Both involve stimulating specific points on your body to stimulate blood flow, regulate hormones, and reduce stress.

Improve ovarian function: Both acupuncture and self-acupressure can be used on specific points to increased blood flow to the ovaries supports which supports follicular development and egg quality.

Support uterine health: Enhanced circulation to the uterus helps to both shed old lining during your period to create a smooth and primed surface with less cramping and moderated flow and supporting the regrowth of a new, thick, implantation receptive lining.

Balances hormones: Acupuncture and acupressure reduce the effects of stress on your hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian (HPO) axis, improving ovulation and luteal phase function by balancing the levels of estrogen and progesterone.

Herbal Medicine: Customized Support for Reproductive Health

Herbal therapy in TEAM is highly personalized, addressing the unique and specific imbalances that are impacting your fertility. TEAM herbal medicine focuses on combining multiple herbs into traditional herbal formulas which are typically prescribed by a Licensed Acupuncturist. However, there are many Chinese herbs that can be used at home as powders, teas, or ingredients in cooking to nourish your fertility.

He Shou Wu: enhances fertility , anti-aging, balances hormones, antioxidant

Reishi: Balances hormones, strengthens ans soothes the nervous system, antioxidant

Ginger: Warming, improves circulation and dispels cold from the womb.

Moxibustion: Warming and Nourishing the Uterus

Moxibustion involves burning dried mugwort - usually in the form of what is essentially a giant incense stick, near specific acupuncture points to gently warm the body and enhance blood flow.

For cold or poor circulation: This therapy supports women who experience cold hands and feet, irregular cycles, or spotting before periods.

For uterine health: It creates a warm, nurturing environment for embryo implantation.

Dietary Therapy: Food as Medicine

In TEAM, a balanced diet is foundational for fertility, and good health in general. Foods are selected based on their warming, nourishing properties to support the Kidney system and blood flow, and to balance out any other imbalances.

Include: Bone broth, cooked, dark leafy greens, berries, nuts, and seeds for building blood.

Favor: Warm, cooked foods like soups, stews, and congee to nurture digestion.

Avoid: Cold, raw, or overly processed foods that weaken you digestion.

Emotional and Lifestyle Practices: Finding Harmony

Stress plays a significant role in fertility challenges, especially as we age. TEAM emphasizes emotional balance and self-care through practices such as:

Meditation and qigong: Calm the mind, reduces cortisol, and promotes hormonal harmony.

Adequate sleep: Restful sleep rejuvenates kidney essence and supports overall health.

Gentle exercise: Activities like yoga or tai chi enhance circulation and relieve tension without depleting energy.

Looking for More?

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