Your Blood and Your Fertility

by Meredith Nathan, LMT, Pulling Down the Moon Massage Director, creator of the Fertility Enhancing Massage Protocol

Where your blood flows, healing goes. Proper circulation is your fertility friend and might even be your BFF! It’s the number one agent of regeneration in our body, and especially in the reproductive organs. Let’s look closer at how this vital element plays a vital role in our quest for conception.

Good blood flow to the ovaries encourages healthy follicle and egg development. Proper uterine blood flow helps support a thick, trilaminar endometrium (uterine lining) at the time of implantation. A good menstrual flow is part of our body’s self-clearing mechanism and is also monthly bio-feedback about the health of our uterus (is the blood dark and clotty, bright with good flow, subject to days of spotting, etc.?). And the presence of fibroids and ovarian cysts can ‘steal’ blood from your reproductive organs, making their normal functioning more complicated and strained.

Here are some issues that women face with regards to their blood and their fertility:

• Blood deficiency – often the result of poor digestion or an inadequate diet, in blood deficiency the blood isn’t providing enough nourishment to support the ovaries and uterus.
• Blood stasis - when a lack of proper circulation creates thin lining, short or absent periods, painful clots, ovarian cysts, tumors and/or fibroids that then lead to a physical blockage; blood stasis is often caused by physical trauma to the uterus or ‘cold uterus’.
• Cold uterus - if the endometrium doesn’t respond to the warming hormone progesterone, the result is like a seed trying to grow in chilly weather, where neither the seed (embryo) or the soil (uterine lining) can flourish. Women with cold uterus often have cold hands/feet, dark and clotty menstrual blood, low libido, cramps and low back pain (helped by heat), and slow rising and/or early declining Basil Body Temperatures.
• Liver qi stagnation – Qi is your body’s vital energy in TCM, and correlates to blood flow. Chronic emotional stress and irritability can cause qi/circulation to become blocked, interrupting the flow of energy through the system. Irregular periods, a lack of ovulation, and a restriction of energy to the developing eggs or embryo can result from liver qi stagnation.

So as you can see, blood is a big deal when it comes to making a baby! Try a Fertility Enhancing Massage, an Initial Acupuncture Consultation with First Treatment, or join Yoga for Fertility today to support healthy blood flow to enhance your fertility!