Uncommon Cold: Female Reproductive Health
Women benefit from cold water immersion -- both to conceive & during pregnancy
In this chapter preview of my upcoming book ‘Uncommon Cold,’ I review the benefits of deliberate cold exposure for fertlity and reproduction for women, introduce you to two women who successfully practiced ice baths during their pregnancy, and caution readers against using the sauna until after the baby is born.
Uncommon Cold
CHAPTER 2
Reproductive Health (Women), Pt. 1
Summary
Declining rates of fertility in the United States are due to cultural factors, like postponing children, and increasing rates of metabolic disorders.
The leading cause of infertility in women of child-bearing age is polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).
Insulin resistance is the most important indication of metabolic disorder, and it is closely associated with PCOS. Resolving PCOS can restore fertility.
Ice baths activate brown fat, repair mitochondria, improve insulin resistance, and can boost fertility by correcting metabolic disorders.
Cold water immersion is safe and beneficial during pregnancy. Sauna is not.
Can ice baths improve fecundity?
Fertility in crisis
Birth rates in the US have plummeted in the last decade and a half. After peaking at about 68 births per 1,000 women (ages 15-44) in early 2007, the birth rate has fallen to less than 57 in late 2022 (CDC 2022). In fact, the birth rate has now fallen below the death rate. If not for immigration, the American population would be shrinking like many other industrialized countries, including Japan, China, Russia, Poland, and Greece.
Part of the reason is because women are waiting longer to have children. For example, there has been a precipitous decline in teenage pregnancy. While there are lots of social benefits to that trend, increasing the birth rate isn’t one of them. Although waiting longer to have children allows women to pursue career opportunities prior to starting a family, it also typically results in smaller families.
For more and more women, postponed family planning is a major factor in declining fertility. Nevertheless, there are many women who want children, but are struggling to either conceive or carry the pregnancy to term. These women would choose to have children if they could, but either they, their chosen partner (or both) lack the capacity.
In population research, fertility is means birth rate, but fecundity is the word used to describe the biological capacity to have a child -- even if a woman chooses not to. For most women older than about age 35, fecundity as measured by the probability of successful conception and carrying the fetus to a successful live birth goes way down. Nonetheless, health statistics suggest there are several other reasons to believe that the fecundity of couples in the industrialized world is in steady decline, regardless of the timing of pregnancy in a woman’s life. For example, sperm counts declined by more than 50% between 1973 and 2018.[1] Testosterone levels, which are associated with libido and sexual function in both men and women, have been declining, too.
The critical role that metabolism plays in both conception and pregnancy has been largely overlooked. For example, among women under the age of 35 years the leading cause of infertility is polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) – which is closely associated with obesity and Type 2 diabetes. In diabetic men, recent epidemiological studies indicate that the prevalence of erectile dysfunction (ED) is 35–90%.[2] That is, regardless of age or gender, metabolic disorders interfere with reproductive function and likely suppress birth rates.
Metabolic fertility
There are two types of metabolic irregularities that can interfere with a woman’s reproductive health—deficiency and excess. The first results from a diet that fails to provide for the nutritional demands of exercise and good health. The second results from a diet that exceeds the capacity of the body to process the intake.
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