Additional information you should cover with your Functional Medicine Doctor
Cortisol Control - Continue to have cortisol levels tested quarterly and research ways to lower cortisol levels. Pay special attention to what triggers your triggers your stress and anxiety. This can start with boundaries but this is a hard thing to do. Sidenote let me just say, that you should be able to slap people who say “Pregnancy happens when you stop thinking about it/stop trying.” This is so incredibly insensitive to most people TTC, especially if you’ve experienced loss or infertility. HOWEVER. It is TRUE. Kind of. But when we think about what we want, especially when it ISN’T happening, we tend to put pressure on ourselves and, therefore, stress. Too much stress is a literal c*ck block, so to speak.
Another important note: our bodies don’t know the difference between good stress or bad stress, unfortunately. So even if you love your job and you love the grind, you’re still sending your body into fight or flight, aka c*ck block mode. I’m not saying you have to quit your job if that’s the case, but it is your responsibility to find ways to lower your stress and, therefore, cortisol levels as much as you can.
Some easy things you can implement right away:
Limit scroll time, especially before bed, and not picking up your phone first thing in the morning until your eyes have seen real sunlight.
Set work boundaries if possible. Turning off at night by putting your laptop and phone away.
Try to eat a meal and get in a workout before turning work back on in the morning. Spend 15-20 minutes outside every day without your phone or any other distraction and without sunglasses: trying to absorb direct sunlight which lowers cortisol and helps boost vitamin D. Bonus if you can go for a walk outside. Studies show that being in nature can significantly reduce your cortisol.
I also added red light therapy to my mornings. Admittedly, I wasn’t great about this one personally, but if you research the benefits of red light therapy, it’s worth adding another step in your morning routine.
Magnesium at night. Look up sleepy girl mocktail …it freaking works.
Prioritize your sleep.
Prioritize getting enough electrolytes in a day.
2. This ties into number 1 above but my functional medicine doctor recommended switching up my high-intensity workouts for low- (er) intensity ones. She suggested trying to sync my workouts with my menstrual cycle phases (menstruation, follicular, luteal, ovulation).* However that just seemed way too overwhelming for me at this time but I could agree to focus on lower-intensity workouts in general. I decided to add in some hot yoga or pilates 2-3x a week and switched my HIIT strength classes to just 40-minute strength/resistance only. I can’t even begin to tell you the difference it made! Not only did I see significant changes in my body but I could feel the tension and stress I had been carrying physically start to melt away. I even noticed my sleep was better on my yoga/Pilates days.
*Get the book In the Flow on Amazon if you are interested in learning more about menstrual cycles and how to cycle sync.
3. ACUPUNCTURE. ACUPUNCTURE.ACCUPUNCTURE. I went once a week. I started as soon as my doctor recommended, about three months before my IVF journey, and continued through my pregnancy (make sure you see someone certified in prenatal if seeing while pregnant). I have taken a break after the boys were born because I cannot find the time, but I will be starting soon once we can get into a routine with help because my body misses the benefits.
4. Nourish your body with organic WHOLE FOODS first, then add supplements. Nothing nourishes your body and natural mineral makeup better than what you eat. Where and what types of food you eat/prepare literally can make or break you. Then, whatever you can’t make up for with diet, lean on supplements.
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