How to Improve Egg Quality: Top 5 Tips to Boost Fertility & Prevent Miscarriage

if you want to know how to improve your  egg quality either to get pregnant faster   or decrease your risk of miscarriage  you're going to want to watch this   video we're going to review exactly what  egg quality is and five ways to improve it I'm Dr Laura Shaheen I'm a double board  certified OBGYN and reproductive endocrinologist   helping people build families for almost 20 years  I love educating be sure and subscribe to this   channel chel so you get my weekly videos all about  reproductive Health in this video we're going to   be talking all about egg quality it's certainly  a buzzword these days I know there's a lot of   content out there about it but I'm going to share  with you exactly what egg quality is and five ways   that you can improve your egg quality starting  today be sure and stick around to the end of   this video where I give my number one warning to  my patients before they start these five important   steps first part of this video what is egg quality  exactly well I mean at its core a good quality egg   is able to ovulate fertilize with a sperm turn  into a beautiful blasy or mature embryo implant   into the uterine cavity and become a beautiful  baby I mean at the end of the day that is a high   quality egg when we're trying to understand egg  quality and teach patients it's hard to narrow it   down there's so many different ways to measure  it and think about it but I think about three   important ways to talk about egg quality with  my patients number one somebody who is infertile   who's having multiple miscarriages we think about  egg quality as being one of the factors that could   be leading to this struggle for building your  family number two if my patients are doing IVF   we get a little bit of a window into egg quality  because the embryologists are actually seeing   the eggs under the microscope and I work with my  embryologist to talk about egg quality and talk   about my patients outcomes and they'll sometimes  describe eggs to me so remember egg is a single   cell it's mainly water under the microscope it  just looks black and white but my embryologist   can really say you know these eggs do not look  like good quality they're dark they're grainy   they're full of vacul there's certain ways that  embryologists can communicate with the doctors   to say there might be an egg quality issue here  other things with IVF is if you're getting poor   outcomes if you're getting fewer eggs than you  expect low fertilization low blasticus formation   rate or low number of normal embryos or just  not getting pregnant or having miscarriages if   this whole process there's poor outcomes that are  happening with IVF we think about egg quality as   being one of the factors there's so many things to  think about and so I'm not saying that if you're   having these things it's absolutely egg quality in  your particular case but it's something to think   about it's something to talk to your doctor about  and finally number three we think about ovarian   reserve testing as a window into egg quality now  this too is absolutely not perfect but we can do   ultrasounds looking at anal follicle count we  can do blood tests looking at cycle day three   follicle stimulating hormone levels and then the  antim malarian hormone levels or amh levels and   listen if you have a below average antal folicle  count for your age if you have a below average amh   level for your age or elev FSH level these things  can signal poor egg quality it's not perfect   and there are people with horrible test results  that get pregnant without assistance and have a   beautiful baby they are not the end all Beall but  when you're talking about egg quality these are   three different ways that you can kind of think  about it becoming a part of your discussion with   your fertility doctor would you struggling with  infertility or having repeated miscarriages poor   outcomes with IVF or embryologist seeing things  under the microscope and finally if you have poor   ovarian reserve testing if you have questions  about ovarian reserve testing be sure to watch   my video All About fertility testing Basics it's  in my playlist under fertility testing here on   YouTube and I hope that information can be helpful  it's a big topic it is absolutely not perfect but   it's too much to go into this particular video  this is not black and white it's not perfect but   it can all lead into a discussion and help you  ask questions about is egg quality a factor for   me and what can I do to improve my egg quality now  that's the second part of this video so before I   get to these five tips why does egg quality matter  and what is it exactly well I think about it as   the functioning of the genes and specifically the  functioning of chromosomes a poor quality egg is   not going to be able to do all the genetic changes  that it needs to in order to fertilize turn into a   mature embryo implant and be a baby now remember  our genes are on stacks of Legos I often describe   it called chromosomes they look like X's if I  take you back to biology and in every cell in   our body we have 23 pairs of chromosomes one copy  comes from the egg that we came from and one copy   comes from the sperm that we came from and eggs  are unique in that when we are born we have all   the eggs we're going to have and they're frozen in  a genetic State called meiosis 1 I'm not going to   go deep into biology class I promise but meiosis  one is basically where there are two copies of   each chromosome and the eggs are sitting like  this and it's when we ovulate whether we're 20   or 40 that our eggs have to get rid of half of the  copies of the chromosomes in order to fertilize   with sperm that give the other copy and so older  eggs make more mistakes now I have a whole video   here on age and fertility where I really do a deep  dive into this and I talk about how eggs and sperm   are different and how age is such a huge impact  on fertility time to pregnancy miscarriage risk   and more so I want you to understand age I mean  there's so much talk about age and fertility and   it really is the age of the eggs of course there  is an age factor for sperm but it's just not as   dramatic and I really get into it in that age  and fertility video so we keep hearing about age   and it's so frustrating because that's something  that you can't change so this video is to teach   you ways that you can improve your egg quality and  you can't turn back the clock as my friend Dr Amy   aaz you probably know her as Dr Amy says we can't  Botox our eggs I have a great review with Dr Amy   on my podcast the baby or bust fertility podcast I  will link it in the description below but she says   that in that interview you can't Botox your eggs  I wish that you could and sort of freeze time like   you can freeze muscles in your face to decrease  wrinkles but you can't do that with your eggs   that's why people do egg freezing as a option  for fertility preservation someone's not ready   to get pregnant but they know that the older their  eggs get the fewer of them are able to do all that   genetic work that it takes to become a baby so  people will do stimulation get the eggs out of   the body and freeze them so that they can use them  later in life when they're actually ready to get   pregnant it's not perfect there's a lot to think  about and goes into thinking about egg freezing   but that's all of this information kind of coming  together now I have a playlist here all about egg   freezing and at least five videos going into who  should do egg freezing how to think about how to   find a clinic and all of this information but  I'm just trying to tie in the importance of age   so we can't change age as far as egg quality is  concerned but there's a lot of research coming   out that with the processing of going through  meiosis 1 reading DNA reading genes that what   we do now as far as impacting the proteins that  are around the DNA the epigenetics the things   that are surrounding the genes and what gets  turned on and turned off things that we do today   can actually help our DNA work better so that's  what we're going to talk about in the next part   of this video five ways you can improve your egg  quality even if you can't turn back the clock and   turn back age there are things that you can do  to improve your egg quality let's go over them   tip number one limit these toxins tobacco alcohol  marijuana listen the message is out about tobacco   smoking this includes vaping will increase poor  egg quality risk increase risk of miscarriage   smoking is out a lot of patients give push back  when I talk about marijuana and alcohol I have   full videos here really doing a deep dive into  the research I understand it's a part of relaxing   for people I understand that some people really  enjoy it but alcohol and marijuana should not be   a part of our everyday life and it can absolutely  impact our reproductive Health whether it's eggs   or sperm so really thinking about tobacco alcohol  marijuana these are things you could limit at a   minimum in order to improve your egg quality  tip number two limit endocrine disruptors so   these are different types of toxins and they're  in our home I am talking about BPA or bisphenol   a parabens phalates and lots of chemicals that  have been made in the last couple decades and are   in our everyday products scents laundry detergent  beauty products Plastics in our kitchen a lot of   these everyday products maybe they could be safe  with limited exposure but when you add up all of   the things that we're exposed to on an everyday  basis they really can start to impact our overall   health and specifically our reproductive Health  limiting processed foods because they're often   created using a lot of plastics along the process  not using a plastic water bottle you know every   once in a while it's okay I don't want to increase  fear around this I just want to say if you can   limit exposure and choose safer products overall  you're going to decrease your exposure and that   has been shown to improve your reproductive Health  including egg quality I have lots of information   here I have a whole playlist called lifestyle  optimization for fertility and I have videos on   phalates and parabens and ways to eliminate toxins  I'm going to put a link in the description below   for my ebook on the five ways to get PL plastic  out of your kitchen I really want to help educate   you on ways to limit and decrease exposure you  can't eliminate it completely but every little   thing that you do can truly help tremendously  tip number three manage stress this is acute   stress this is chronic stress I know it's tough to  hear this because then you stress about stressing   listen we are all exposed to stress but if we work  on managing stress and coping techniques whatever   is right for you taking a walk acupuncture therapy  meditation yoga time for yourself reading whatever   it is ways you can manage stress to decrease that  constant exposure to cortisol levels are so much   of what we're built on and what we're running  on right now is this fight ORF flight kind   of increased nervous system this this constant  stress mode actually helps us function well we   can meet deadlines and meet goals in life but  that constant elevated cortisol level really   increases inflammation throughout our body and  it can impact our overall health and well-being   so we can't eliminate stress but we can manage  it so that we can recover faster and so find   ways a little bit every single day journaling is  another option talking to a friend relaxing in the   evening you know whatever you need to do to kind  of manage stress find Joy have something to look   forward to that can only improve our reproductive  health and our egg quality tip number four think   about your overall health and well-being  the things that you're doing like getting   sleep focusing on nutrition and thinking about  exercise and moving your body those three things   are absolutely amazing for your overall health  and well-being and that will only improve your   reproductive Health as well make sleep a priority  I have a whole video here on the importance of   sleep impacting our fertility and I've got tips  in that video that help you think about a quiet   room planning for bedtime decompressing before  you get into bed and tips and tricks to making   sleep a priority nutrition it's so important we've  already talked about the importance of decreasing   processed foods as a way to decrease exposure to  Plastics and the endocrine disruptors that are in   that process of processing Foods more fruits and  vegetables and a balanced diet just you know find   joy that doesn't mean that you can't ever have  ice cream because it's absolutely amazing but   if we make more choices towards higher nutrition  you know lowering fast food lowering processed   food thinking about a Mediterranean diet I've got  lots of videos here on nutrition and fertility and   specifically foods that can improve your fertility  and foods that can actually harm your fertility   and and I hope that that can be really helpful  exercise is also extremely important for your   overall health and well-being and your egg  quality too many people eliminate exercise   because they're afraid of disrupting implantation  or making the embryo fall out and that is not good   exercise is important for your mental health  for your physical health you want to modify   you don't want to increase your cortisol levels  because you're stressing your body out too much   but moving your body in a restorative way is  magical and I've got plenty of videos here on   exercise just through fertility as well as during  the IVF process as well I hope they're helpful and   number five finally supplements supplements with  antioxidants um something like vitamin A vitamin   E co-enzyme Q10 vitamin D can help reproductive  Health every time your cell is working and you're   reading DNA if there's a lot of oxidative stress  and free radicals around the DNA as it's being   used that can decrease replication and function  of the DNA and all of your cellular processes   so in general increasing antioxidants whether  it's through the food that you're eating or   through some well chosen supplements it can really  improve your overall reproductive health and your   egg quality you've got to talk to your doctor  about the supplements that you're taking you   know I talk about this a lot that the supplement  industry is A200 billion dollar industry and most   of the money it's spent on marketing not on high  quality ingredients and you don't need to buy the   most expensive vitamin or supplement that's out  there you don't need to buy tons of different   supplements I talk to my patients about a really  good multivitamin so if someone's getting pregnant   it's a prenatal vitamin and if it's the male  partner multivitamin and then vitamin D I think is   essential for especially for my patients living  in the Pacific Northwest I practice in Seattle and   so many people are vitamin D deficient and then  the only extra antioxidant which is not in most   multivitamins or prenal vitamins is co-enzyme Q10  and that can be really helpful and DNA replication   and use of cellular functions and that's exactly  what the egg is doing to be careful when you are   trying to find supplements and I've got some  videos here on how to find a good prenatal   vitamin and how to find a safer supplement but  absolutely Ely talk to your doctor first before   you take anything and always review with your  doctor when they ask you about medications that   you're taking don't just include prescription  medications include the supplements as well   because it's really important to communicate about  this I've got a lot of resources here with a deep   dive into almost every topic that I just went  over look at my playlist on lifestyle optimization   for fertility and you will find information on  finding safer supplements on sleep on exercise   marijuana and egg quality alcohol impact on  fertility in women so much information I really   hope that those resources will help you and in  each video I have references to the resources that   are mentioned and I talk about the studies so I  hope that that could be helpful now the number one   warning that I have for you just like I have for  all of my patients before they start to implement   these five ways to improve egg quality is don't  lose joy in the process so much of fertility and   taking back control of fertility because you  feel like you've lost it is elimination like   I'll be better I'll be more fertile if I cut out  this and this and this and it starts to become a   spiral I am on the 80% plan so if 80% of the time  you can focus on nutrition and getting sleep and   exercise and taking your supplements and all the  things that we talked about that is perfection   80% is perfection you have got to enjoy that ice  cream every once in a while oh my gosh if you are   going out to celebrate your birthday or a friend's  anniversary you know you're enjoying a dinner out   have a glass of wine have a glass of champagne  enjoy your life these things are not meant to   restrict and eliminate and take things out of  your life that you enjoy it's just everything in   moderation and making more positive and healthy  choices than things that we sometimes enjoy but   we know really aren't very good for us I truly  hope that this video is helpful it's one of the   number one questions that I get how to improve egg  quality I hope you're taking information away look   for links in the description for more information  and certainly run through the rest of the videos   here on my YouTube channel because I talk about  this all the time like this video if you learn   something comment with questions that you have be  sure and subscribe to this channel so you get my   weekly video all about reproductive health and  until then wishing you love luck and pineapples

Channel: Dr Lora Shahine

Views: 46,217

Keywords: egg quality, how to improve egg quality, improve egg quality, improve egg quality naturally, egg quality improvement, how to improve egg quality in women, tips to improve egg quality, how to improve egg quality naturally, egg quality for pregnancy, best way to improve egg quality, how to improve egg quality for pregnancy, improving egg quality, how to improve female egg quality, improving egg quality naturally, tips for improving egg quality, infertility, dr lora shahine

Id: oVP1y9vTycM

Length: 18min 38sec (1118 seconds)

Published: Fri May 03 2024