A New Hormone and its Influence on Your Fertility (Plus More on the Mind/Body Connection)

First I wanted to share with you some interesting info about a hormone that is not considered hardly at all when investigating fertility issues, but recent studies have shown that it certainly plays a role in your fertility.  The hormone is called leptin which was only discovered recently in 1994. I know I am getting old when 11 years ago seems recent!! :)

Leptin was shown in a small study from Harvard Medical School (sept 2004) to have a positive effect on resetting the female reproductive system.  Leptin has been touted as a hormone that is an appetite suppressant and occurs normally in your brain. Normally when you eat too much leptin tells you that you are full. Good ole leptin was in full swing last night while I was eating at a Mexican restaurant!!

But there seems to be a threshold that when crossed, leptin doesn't help you keep your weight in check anymore.  And this appears to go both ways, i.e if you eat too little and exercise too much which is seen in some women with eating disorders or if you eat too much and gain weight especially around the abdominal area.  This new research shows that "a clear connection also exists between fat, or energy storage, and the ability to reproduce." In a study on mice who had not reached puberty, when given leptin, they were able to get pregnant quickly.  The study at Harvard studied human females that had not had a period for years. These particular women were all heavy exercisers, had no children, and had very little body fat. After injections of leptin, 6 of the 8 women experienced menstruation, all started growing follicles, their bone mass improved, and vaginal dryness disappeared.  The effects were not long lasting however, as when the injections stopped so did the progress.

So the point in me telling you this today is not for you to run out and look for the nearest place for you to have injections of leptin to improve your fertility now, but instead to once again alert you to the tremendous possibilities that are out there for you.  I am currently doing more research into a diet which encourages leptin sensitivity in our bodies and promotes good health throughout. You may want to have a look at the book "The Rosedale Diet" by Ron Rosedale MD. At first glance, the diet seems sensible and relatively easy to follow and may in fact improve your fertility.  I will give you a full review on the book when I am finished with it.

And now a few comments on our last couple of tips...

Does thinking positive really work?

In the last few fertility tips I have emphasized the importance of the mind body connection and I have received some wonderful replies as a result.  Some very encouraging and some quite skeptical. I welcome all this feedback and respect your opinion. Please keep on sending it in.

Many of the emails referred to me talking about thinking positive and some thought that there wasn't anyway that thinking positive could be the only thing that changes their physiology especially if there is a specific reason for not becoming pregnant.  And others felt that because of reading the tips, they were able to think more positive and felt better about their situation. But the funny thing is, I never mentioned thinking positive at all in my emails. So it’s time I tell you what I think about thinking positive based on my own experience as well as what I see clinically.  To be honest, thinking positive doesn't work most of the time. I don't encourage people to think positive, I encourage people to think constructively and to get rid of the negative emotion and limiting decisions that may be holding you back based on past experiences and past as well as current conditioning (like telling you your eggs are too old or you don't have enough sperm, etc).  

Imagine an iceberg.  I am sure you have seen the pictures, right.  Where the tip of the iceberg is above the water but a huge island of ice lay beneath the surface.  Can you imagine that right now? If all you do is think positive then you are just putting a layer on top of the iceberg that hides all the negative stuff below the surface, such as conflicts, fears, negative past experiences in the past, etc.  And if the neural networks created by all the things you don't want (the part of the iceberg under the surface) are well travelled, meaning you reinforce these beliefs all the time either by ignoring them, repressing them, or putting a layer of positive self talk on top of them to hide them, then you are not addressing the cause of the issue.  So in some cases positive thinking becomes a bandaid.

The information that I am providing to you about how to change your thoughts is based on the fact that we can change these neural networks in our brain.  We can actually change them to something more constructive. That is right, we can rewire our brain. This has been proven by modern advances in how we see our brain. See the excellent book the Mind and The Brain if interested.  Scientists used to believe that the brain was static and didn't change much but now thru many breakthroughs in the way scientists research brain activity we know that the brain is more plastic than it is static and does undergo change frequently.

The phrase I gave you in the last tip is one technique.  And this will chip away at the conflicts and beliefs that aren't getting you what you want.  There are accelerated ways of completely getting rid of this negative stuff and if your interested in this email me at [email protected] and we can schedule a time to talk about what they are.  

So what does this all have to do with fertility...

Everything!

Studies have shown that addressing the mind/body connection has improved fertility rates for people who have attended workshops to address these issues.

It is so important to work with the mind and the body to achieve what you want and to allow yourself to believe that you can get pregnant.  You do this by changing your focus and thinking constructively and gradually rewiring old beliefs you took on from well meaning physicians, family members, and yes, even naturopaths.  And no, I don't believe it is always the only issue that has to be addressed, that is why we utilise our natural methods which have now contributed to over 3300 pregnancies. Treating you as a whole person, and addressing every facet of who you are is going to give you the best possible results in your life and with your fertility.  

So think constructively, take steps to reprogram your mind with beliefs that support you.  And when a negative thought comes up, don't just think positive, reprogram your belief by

1) Acknowledging it..."okay, here's that thought again" (this doesn't mean accept it.

2) Reprogram it to something you used to believe "In the past I used to think _____________________  (eg.I couldn't get pregnant)

3) Refocus what you want for now and the future "And now I choose to_______________________(e.g. "receive new life")

4)Repeat this process when issues come up

And support your system physiologically by doing everything possible to improve your health, this will in turn improve your situation immensely.