I strapped Jack into the stroller and went out for a walk/run the morning after I wrote that last entry about exercise hurting the chances of IVF success.
I wore my heart rate monitor and tried to keep my heart rate under 130 beats per minute. I would jog at an ultra slow pace (which is not much slower than my normal pace...) for 2 minutes (or until my heart rate rose to 131) and then walk quickly until my my heart rate dropped to 119. One time I let my heart rate go up to 140 beats per minute. I did this for about 45 minutes.
After this workout I felt pretty good, and I didn't feel cheated. But I wondered if it was too much and whether I should stop, at least until after the IVF.
According to this report that talks about the same study discussed in the previous post,
"women who exercised four or more hours per week–and had done so for the previous one to nine years–were 40 percent less likely to have a baby after their first IVF treatment than if they hadn't exercised. Surprisingly, however, women who had followed a rigorous fitness regimen for 10 to 30 years were just as likely to end up with a baby as women who didn't exercise."
So if you've been exercising vigorously for 10 to 30 years already, this won't hurt your chances of success for IVF. I wish I fit into that category, but no, I have been a yo-yo exerciser over the years.
One more interesting thing from this article:
"A closer look at the data showed that intense cardiovascular exercise such as running, bicycling, or stair climbing was especially detrimental to IVF outcomes. Women who did cardio for four or more hours per week for one to nine years were 50 percent less likely to have a successful pregnancy after their first IVF treatment than the women who didn't work out at all."
Made me wonder if moderate walking or gentle yoga has the same detrimental effect.
So I started trying to find the original study that was published in Obstetrics & Gynecology. (this is a PDF, which I've had trouble opening in Firefox. I had to use IE)
The study divided women into three categories of exercise: Walking, Cardiovascular (jogging, biking, rowing, etc.) and Other (racquet sports, yoga, swimming)
Here's some interesting stuff from the study:
"When compared with women who do not regularly exercise, women who exercised 4 or more hours per week for 1-9 years were 40 percent less likely to have a successful live birth after the first cycle of IVF. These women were almost three times more likely to have a cycle cancellation and twice as likely to experience implantation failure or pregnancy loss than women who did not report regular exercise. There was no difference in the rate of failed fertilization when comparing the women in exercise duration category 2 (4+ hours a week for 1-9 years) to women who did not exercise.
"...For all analyses, the effect of BMI was closely analyzed. When patients were stratified by BMI using the World Health Organization (WHO) BMI categories for underweight (BMI<18.5), normal (BMI 18.5-24.9), overweight (BMI 25.0-29.9) and obese (BMI> 30.0) no differences in the association between exercise and the IVF outcomes were noted. Analysis by infertility diagnosis did not reveal any relation...between infertility diagnosis and the effects of exercise on IVF outcomes (data not shown).
"Further analyses examined the effect of the type of exercise on IVF outcomes. Three different groups were created based on the type of exercise women reported most frequently: "walking," "cardiovascular," or "other."
"Compared to those who don't exercise regularly, the likelihood of successful live birth for walkers in general was not different, whereas the likelihood of successful live birth for those undertaking cardiovascular exercise was 30 percent lower. ...However, among the women who walked, those who had done so for 4 hours or more per week for 1-9 years were 50 percent less likely to have a successful live birth compared with women who did not regularly exercise.
"Interestingly, the most detrimental effect was observed in cardiovascular exercisers who had 30 percent lower chance of successful pregnancy after their first cycle of IVF than women who did not exercise. The women who participated in cardiovascular exercise for more than 4 hours per week for 1-9 years consistently saw a significant decrease in IVF success. When compared with women who did not exercise there was a 50 percent reduction in live births, with more than a five-fold increase in cycle cancellation and an approximately a 2.5-fold increase in failed implantation (defined as women who make it to embryo transfer but had negative pregnancy tests).
"...On the other hand, in overweight patients with ovulatory dysfunction, exercise can lead to increased ovulation and improved fertility."
(but ovulatory dysfunction was never my problem, so that' s not going to do it for me. We are strictly a bad sperm/advanced maternal age couple)
So I'm thinking for me that walking at a moderate pace for 30 minutes a day seems like a good plan to go with from now until I'm finished with this IVF cycle.
But I will also ask my acupuncturist and RE what they think. I'm going back to see my acupuncturist tomorrow for my first acupuncture session since Jack arrived. She did not work with us during our first IVF cycle, but I started seeing her during our successful frozen embryo transfer (FET) cycle.
She's been right about a lot of things. I'm curious about what she will think of this.
I'm so glad your comments are open! I've been reading you for a while, and I like your writing.
Interesting study, I saw it this morning and wondered about it. I think the key might be balance, as in regular slow exercise is good, and hard is bad. I've had problems when I get too lean and also too squishy and fat. My successful pregnancies both happened when I had a little bit of muscle, and a little bit of fat, and was eating healthyish. Sudden weight loss for me has usually equalled bad cycle next month. I do okay with one package of Reeses once in awhile, and limiting the Starbucks, but that's just me, maybe? :)
Posted by: Aurelia | October 02, 2006 at 11:12 AM