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Preconceptual Health
Published in Michelle Tollefson, Nancy Eriksen, Neha Pathak, Improving Women's Health Across the Lifespan, 2021
Nancy L. Eriksen, Kristi R. VanWinden, John McHugh
Couples preparing for pregnancy may experience stress from issues occurring in their everyday lives, pressures specifically related to conception as well as the cumulative impact of lifelong stressors, some originating in childhood. While many Americans perceive themselves to be under undue stress, assessment and management of stress is often reserved for acute crises rather than as screened for and addressed as a part of routine care.
Basic medicine: physiology
Published in Roy Palmer, Diana Wetherill, Medicine for Lawyers, 2020
The gonads comprise the ovaries in the female and the testes in the male. Each gonad has a dual function: to produce germ cells, i.e. ova and spermatozoa, and to secrete sex hormones. Pituitary hormones (gonadotropins) cause enlargement of the ovary and testis during childhood, and the resultant release of gonadal hormones brings about the changes of puberty, including the growth spurt and the secondary sexual characteristics of females and males. Oestrogens and progesterone secreted by the ovary cause girls to start their monthly cycle of ovulation and menstruation, while testicular androgens stimulate the production of fertile sperm and seminal fluid. If sexual intercourse takes place during the period following ovulation, when an ovum is shed from the ovary and passes down the female genital tract, then conception may take place as the sperm penetrates the ovum. The developing embryo implants into the wall of the uterus, leading to the formation of the placenta, and placental hormones then sustain the pregnancy. At birth, which occurs around 270 days later, pituitary oxytocin governs the onset of uterine contractions. The breasts have enlarged during pregnancy under the combined actions of oestrogen, progesterone and the pituitary hormone prolactin. After birth lactation is controlled by prolactin combined with oxytocin secreted as a reflex response to suckling by the infant.
The seventeenth century
Published in Michael J. O’Dowd, The History of Medications for Women, 2020
On a cautionary note, Culpeper advised that overuse of the act of copulation ‘makes the womb slippery ... and thats the reason Whores have seldom children; and also the reason why women after long absence of their husbands, when they come again, usually soon conceive’. The most suitable time for conception was shortly after menstruation. The timing of intercourse was vital as ‘fear of surprise hindered conception. He also warned that ‘Apish ways and manners of copulation hindered conception’. Various herbal and animal products were advised to promote conception and could be applied as pessaries or plasters: ‘Hold sweet Things to the place of conception, before the act of Copulation, because they draw the womb down; But after the act, to the Nose, to draw the Matrix up.’
Knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward exercises among women visiting an infertility clinic: A cross-sectional study
Published in Health Care for Women International, 2023
Shashwathi Gundimi, Bhamini Krishna Rao, Ajay Bailey, Pratap Kumar, Vipin Nair, Kiransha R. Velingkar, Preetha Ramachandra
Lifestyle modifications suggested as a part of treatment for female infertility includes abstaining from tobacco use and alcohol consumption, and aiming for a body mass index less than 30 kg/m2 to improve their chances of natural conception or using assisted reproductive technology (Lindsay & Vitrikas, 2015). Previous reviewers have shown benefit of lifestyle changes including exercise on fertility in obese and overweight women with PCOS suggesting that exercise could be used as a treatment option for resolution of ovulation (Haqq et al., 2014; Moran et al., 2011; Panidis et al., 2013; Sharma et al., 2013; Stener-Victorin, 2013). The types of exercise prescribed in studies on effect of exercise on ovulation include low-impact aerobics, brisk walking, lawn mowing, combined aerobics/resistance training to vigorous intensity exercises such as hiking, running, cycling, aerobic dancing, swimming, and tennis (Hakimi & Cameron, 2017).
Effectiveness of a video-based education on fertility awareness: a randomized controlled trial with partnered women
Published in Human Fertility, 2022
Juliana Pedro, Joana Fernandes, Alberto Barros, Pedro Xavier, Vasco Almeida, Maria E. Costa, Lone Schmidt, Mariana V. Martins
Mean levels of pre-intervention FA are presented in Table 3. Women estimated that the chance of conception during 1 year of trying was 83.35 ± 14.42% for a 25–30-year-old woman (only 9% of participants provided an answer in the correct range) and 62.48 ± 19.58% for a 35–40-year-old woman (19% of participants answered in the correct range). On average, women estimated that the chance of success of conception using treatment would be 59.34 ± 20.92% for a 35-year-old woman (10.5% of participants provided an answer in the correct range), 43.92 ± 18.89 for a 40-year-old woman (11.4% of participants answered in the correct range) and 30.74 ± 18.64% for a 45-year-old woman (16.7% answered in the correct range). The knowledge regarding infertility risk factors (10.94 ± 4.31; possible range: 0–18) and regarding infertility definition (5.51 ± 1.08; possible range: 0–8) was moderate.
Stratification of fertility potential according to cervical mucus symptoms: achieving pregnancy in fertile and infertile couples
Published in Human Fertility, 2021
Marie Marshell, Marian Corkill, Mark Whitty, Adrian Thomas, Joseph Turner
The diagnostic potential of this approach is best illustrated by the performance of mucus symptom observations as a predictor of female fertility compared with known clinical prognostic factors. Oestrogenic-type mucus is critical to creation of a reproductive environment supportive of sperm survival and transport to the ovum (Dunson, Bigelow, & Colombo, 2005; Menárguez, Pastor, & Odeblad, 2003) and is clinically predictive of ovulation and successful conception (Bigelow et al., 2004; Ecochard et al., 2015). However, even when ovulation can be reliably detected, the timing of intercourse to this event will not guarantee conception if appropriate mucus is absent or the ovulatory mechanism does not operate satisfactorily, causing an infertile ovulation indicated by the short/deficient luteal phase. Adequate production of oestrogenic-type mucus followed by an obvious Peak symptom and a good length luteal phase shows that the woman is then currently in the fertile phase of the ‘continuum’ (Brown, 2011). A determination of fertility potential is therefore available from the woman’s chart.