Hot flashes, the most common menopause-related symptom, cause many women to seek foods and supplements touted to offer relief despite flimsy evidence. Now, according to the most comprehensive study to date, eating two servings of soy foods a day may help reduce the frequency and severity of hot flashes.
Month: April 2012
Personhood Bill Showdown Doesn’t Materialize:Proponents Fear Measure Sidelined
An anticipated showdown vote on Senate Bill 1433 – the “personhood” bill – didn’t happen Wednesday, and legislative leaders may be trying to stifle the issue for the year, proponents and opponents say.
Are you an impatient woman? A Woman’s Guide to Getting Pregnant
ConceiveOnline.com: You wrote this book to correct misinformation you found about fertility — information that was largely scaring women about their poor chances of conception. Can you share a few pieces of misinformation you were able to correct or clarify in your own research?
Jean Twenge: I often saw the statistic that one-third of women over 35 would not become pregnant after a year of trying – this was often stated as fact with no source. It turns out the source is a medical journal article that analyzed – not kidding – birth records from 1600s rural France! Modern studies find higher pregnancy rates…maybe because we have soap now.
CO.com: As you know, the readers of ConceiveOnline.com are having trouble conceiving, some of them for a very long time – so they’re definitely impatient! Any advice from your research and writing this book for this group of women (vs. people who haven’t started trying yet or have been trying for a short time)?
JT: My first piece of advice is to have your partner get a semen analysis. Almost half of fertility problems are “male factor” (which sounds like a really bad men’s cologne). Because men always have it easier, tests for sperm issues are quick and inexpensive – between $50 and $100 at a doctor’s office (there are home kits too, but they are both less accurate and more expensive).
If the semen analysis is normal, buy a fertility monitor. Charting is great – I’ve done it myself for 8 years – but for getting pregnant may not be precise enough. There are so many days of egg white, and how many differs from one cycle to the next. I got pregnant faster at 39 than at 34, probably because of the monitor. (Although, as I note below, you have to adjust your timing when using the monitor because the day of ovulation isn’t actually the most fertile).
If you’ve been trying for six months using the monitor – especially if you’ve had sex on both high and peak days — I think it’s time to see a doctor. The advice of waiting a year is based on random timing. It also ignores how stressful trying is when you don’t know why it’s not working.
CO.com: In your new book, you explain three ways to monitor ovulation in every cycle (not just when a woman typically ovulates). What are common mistakes in tracking ovulation that you’d like to correct?
JT: I think the most common mistake is waiting too long in the cycle to have sex. For some women, ovulation has already passed or is within a few hours of occurring once an OPK or fertility monitor detects LH (luteinizing hormone). If you have sex that evening, it might already be too late, because the egg doesn’t live very long (about 6 to 12 hours). So just relying on OPKs might not be the best – better to combine it with charting or the fertility monitor so you can get more warning.
We’ll have the second and last part of our interview with Jean on April 23, so please check back!
Jean M. Twenge, Professor of Psychology at San Diego State University, is the author of the brand-new book, The Impatient Woman’s Guide to Getting Pregnant. She has also written more than 90 scientific publications and two books based on her research, Generation Me and The Narcissism Epidemic. Her research has been covered in Time, Newsweek, the New York Times, USA Today, and The Washington Post, and she has been featured on Today, NBC Nightly News, Fox and Friends, Dateline, and National Public Radio. She received a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. She lives in San Diego, California, with her husband and daughters.
Calling for RMNCH action at G8/G20
With just one month until President Barack Obama hosts G8 leaders at Camp David, The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health is joining other leading development organizations in a social media campaign to encourage political will towards RMNCH among a number of key issues at this high level meeting.
New guidelines issued for surrogates
The new document aims to provide more clarity and guidance for good practice on these topics:
- Screening & testing of genetic parents & gestational carriers
- Complex medical & psychological issues for gestational carriers, parents & children
- Updates on optimal screening and testing for STDs and psychological assessments
If you’re considering using a donor or surrogate, you may want to read these ConceiveOnline.com articles as well:
Ways to Strengthen Your Relationship When Using a Donor or Surrogate
Third-Party Reproduction and the Law (a 2009 article, so be sure to check that any specific laws mentioned are still current in your state).
Are you considering using a gestational carrier/surrogate? What are your biggest questions and concerns?
Carrying Dreams: Why Women Become Surrogates
Surrogacy is an idea as old as the biblical story of Sarah and Abraham in the book of Genesis. Sarah was infertile, so Abraham fathered children with the couple’s maid. Today, there are many more options for people who want to grow their families — and for the would-be surrogates who want to help.
Ed Houben, Sperm Donor, Has Fathered 82 Children
Ed Houben was a virgin until the age of 34. Now he’s the biological father of 82 children. Der Spiegel reports that the 42-year-old Dutchman performs his services for free, offering women and couples a chance to conceive a child without the expense of using a sperm bank.
Q and A on Fertility: Can You Rewind the Biological Clock?
In an age of assisted reproductive technology, can you rewind the biological clock? Not as much as you think, say Yale researchers in a study published in a recent issue of “Fertility and Sterility.”
Preconception Health
Getting pregnant and carrying a pregnancy to term is easiest when a woman’s overall health is optimized through appropriate self care. Here are the 5 main factors women can control to increase their fertility:
Nutrition
Eating a balanced diet promotes ideal health. In general, whole foods are the best choice. Women who avoid certain food groups due to dietary restrictions for health or other reasons may wish to consult with a nutritionist to ensure that they are still getting all the nutrients their body needs. Supplements such as prenatal rich in folic acid are recommended for women who want to get pregnant.Harmful Substances
Women who smoke should stop as soon as possible since smoking delays the time to conception and can lead to early onset of infertility. Women who consume alcohol or caffeine in substantial quantities should cut back or cease using these substances to increase their overall wellbeing and lower the chance of miscarriage.Weight Management
Maintaining a healthy body weight increases the chances of getting pregnant. It can also decrease the risk of miscarriage, birth defects, and gestational diabetes. Eating a moderate amount of nutritious food and exercising regularly is the best way to achieve sustainable weight loss and prepare for pregnancy.Stress Reduction
High levels of chronic stress affect hormone levels in the body and may interfere with fertility. There are a variety of relaxation techniques that can help with stress reduction including yoga, acupuncture, and acupuncture massage. In general, simply taking time out to relax is a good course of action for relieving stress in preparation for getting pregnant.Frequency and Timing of Intercourse
An egg is viable for less than 24 hours after ovulation. This means there is a narrow window of opportunity for fertilization. Couples who are trying to conceive should have sex daily or every other day during the 7 day time period ending on the day of ovulation.PA Appeals Court Upholds Awarding of Embryos to Wife
For the first time, a Pennsylvania appeals court has confronted the complex question of who gets custody of embryos, ruling this week in favor of a Chester County woman who hopes to give birth using frozen embryos that her estranged husband wants destroyed.