Author: Lisa Douglas

“Boost Your Metabolism in 5 Steps!” “Don’t Let Your Metabolism Die With Your Workout.” “Burn, Baby, Burn What You Eat Faster!”
Do today’s hottest health and wellness headlines have you thinking that you need to be thinking (more) about your metabolism? Are you wondering what the heck metabolism actually is and why you need to be so concerned with it?

If your answer is yes, we’re here to help!
Your metabolism is the process by which your body converts what you eat and drink into energy. It’s a two-part operation—a catabolic reaction and an anabolic reaction. The catabolic reaction breaks your food down so it can be digested and absorbed. The anabolic reaction happens when these broken-down pieces are used to rebuild and sustain your body’s tissues.
When people talk about how fast your metabolism is, they’re actually referring to your basal metabolic rate (BMR), which is the sum of your body’s catabolic and anabolic reactions. Your BMR is basically in charge of breaking food down but is also responsible for other functions like breathing, circulating blood, adjusting hormone levels, and growing and repairing cells.

Your metabolism can be fast or slow and more often than not is related to your weight. If you have a high metabolism, you burn energy quickly and typically have a leaner body, whereas if your metabolism is slow, your body typically has a higher percentage of fat.
But what makes your metabolism high or low?
A lot of things affect your metabolism, from your body size (the bigger you are, the more you burn), how much muscle vs. fat you have (the more muscle you have, the faster you burn), whether you’re male or female (men burn more quickly than women), and your age (the younger you are, the more you burn).

And, other factors aside, some people are just born with faster metabolisms and others with slower metabolisms.
When you have a faster metabolism, you may maintain a leaner look more easily, be more energetic, and be able to eat more (and less healthful) food without noticing much change on the scale.
Before you curse your bestie whose metabolism appears to be through the roof, there are things you can do to speed up your metabolism if that’s what you’re after. Of course, you can’t control your age or sex, but here are six easy ways to increase your body’s ability to burn.

1. Hit the weights.

The number one thing you can do to boost your metabolism is to increase the amount of muscle that you have. At rest, a pound of muscle burns about 10 calories a day, whereas fat burns two to three calories per pound, per day.

When you’re performing a hard workout, muscle burns even more, but unfortunately, as you age, the amount of muscle you have decreases every decade.
This is the main reason that your metabolism diminishes with age. The way to keep your muscle from diminishing—and your metabolism lifted—is to build that muscle back up.

How do you accomplish this? The best way is to strength train. Hitting the gym and opting to work with weights two to three days a week is the most effective and efficient way to build muscle.

2. Try HIIT training.

High-intensity interval training, also known as HIIT, is a type of cardiovascular exercise distinguished by its alternating rounds of intense exercise followed by recovery periods. For example, you run as fast as you can for 30 seconds, and then rest for 60 seconds. This gets repeated a set number of times, inspiring a complete workout.

HIIT not only burns a huge number of calories during its exercise portions, but it also keeps your metabolism going even after you’re done. This is due to something known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, or EPOC.
After an intense exercise session, oxygen consumption (which burns a lot of calories) stays high as your cells work to repair and restore your body. Regular cardio workouts can’t do this.
An article published in the Journal of Sports Sciences notes that exercise-intensity studies indicate higher EPOC values with HIIT as compared with low- to moderate-intensity, steady-paced cardiovascular training. And a study conducted at the University of Guelph in Canada showed that fat burning was significantly higher after as little as six weeks of interval training.

Try adding a few HIIT intervals to your cardio twice a week. Use a 1:2 workout to rest schedule. For example, exert yourself as hard as you can for 30 seconds, then rest for twice as long (60 seconds). Perform this for 5 to 10 intervals or however many you can tolerate.
(And try our at-home HIIT videos!)

3. Don’t starve yourself.

Eat less, and your body will burn more calories and be thinner, right? Not exactly—it’s a bit more complicated than that.

You see, your body is pretty smart, and it looks out for your well being. So if you eat too little (and not often enough), your body may suspect that it’s going to starve. In an effort to protect itself, it attempts to conserve energy and hold on to the calories you have consumed by slowing your metabolism.
Of course, this is exactly the opposite of what you’re trying to achieve. So how do you speed your metabolism up while still being mindful of calorie consumption? The answer is to give your body just enough of what it needs to feel safe and secure by eating small meals (aka grazing) throughout the day.

When you eat smaller meals as opposed to larger, heavier meals, your burning potential (along with your energy) is boosted throughout the day.

4. Keep a balance.

As you’re grazing, you want to pay attention to what you’re grazing on. Protein and fiber not only help keep your blood sugar stable, they require more energy to digest than refined carbs. A whole lot more!

Studies show that meals that have the same total caloric content but are composed of different ingredients are digested totally differently. In other words, a calorie is not just a calorie.
Clean, whole-food meals that include a lot of protein and fiber are digested much more slowly than meals of processed, simple carbohydrates. Almost twice as slowly, in fact.

What does this mean for you? Try to incorporate some type of protein and fiber into every meal you eat in order to keep your metabolism kicking.

5. Hydrate!

You need water in your body to fuel its everyday processes. And, surprise! Metabolism is one of those water-dependent processes.
If you don’t drink enough water, your body suffers, and your metabolism slows to compensate. Be sure to drink plenty of pure water—not coffee, tea, soda, or even juice—to keep your body well hydrated.

As a side note, it may be helpful for your metabolism to make sure the water you drink is cold. German scientists found that you can boost your burning up to 50 calories more a day by drinking cold, as opposed to warm, water. They believe that the added boost occurs when the body uses energy to warm the water up during digestion.

6. Get to sleep.

It may seem counterintuitive, but in order for your body to burn calories, it needs proper rest. According to University of Chicago researchers, 100 percent of the participants in a recent study of the impact of sleep deprivation on fat cells were unable to tolerate the metabolic consequences of sleep deprivation.

In fact, after just four days of sleep deprivation, the body’s ability to properly use insulin became disrupted.
Shockingly, the insulin sensitivity of participants’ fat cells dropped by more than 30 percent, a difference akin to the disparity between lean and obese participants, or non-diabetic and diabetic individuals prior to sleep deprivation.

When your insulin is disrupted, your metabolism goes haywire and fat ends up getting stored more often—and in all of the wrong places.
So, try to aim for seven or more hours of sleep per night.

What so-called health advice do you follow daily that is actually hocus-pocus?

Here are the top eight most common medical myths that you can officially ignore.

1. You lose most of your body heat through your head.

“Wear a hat—you’ll catch a cold!” says your mother as you sprint out of the house. The myth that heat is lost from the head more than any other part of the body is

Surprisingly, it turned out that participants who reported no knuckle-cracking behavior had slightly higher rates of arthritis (18.1 percent versus 21.5 percent) than those who admitted to cracking their knuckles.

Arthritis can be caused by normal wear and tear of the joints, an infection or injury, or an autoimmune disorder. But anxiety-ridden knuckle-crackers can rest easy knowing that their nervous habit is no more dangerous to their health than nail biting or foot tapping.

6. Sitting too close to the TV ruins your eyesight.

When television sets were first introduced, some color models emitted high amounts of radiation that could cause eye damage. This led experts to recommend that adults and children sit as far away as possible from screens. 

However, TV and computer monitor safety has been regulated since the ’60s.

So, even though sitting ridiculously close to a screen makes your eyes work harder, it won’t do any permanent damage to them.

Same goes for reading or doing work in the dark. The lack of light might result in eyestrain, but overall, ophthalmologists agree that it’s genetics and age that cause your eyesight to go, not your late-night reading habit.

7. Eating at night makes you fat.

Feeling guilty about your late-night snacking habit? Let us put your mind at ease! Studies show that it doesn’t matter what time of day that you eat as long as you maintain the appropriate calories eaten to calories burned ratio.

The secret of weight gain and weight loss lies in simple mathematics —you must burn as many calories as you eat in order to stay the same weight. If you eat more and exercise less, you’ll gain weight.

Conversely, if you eat less and exercise more, you’ll lose weight.

It doesn’t matter what time you eat your meals, although studies do show that those who snack at night, have a tendency to mindlessly eat with disregard for serving size. This may cause them to eat more than they realize. If you’re a nighttime snacker, keep your calories in check by pouring a serving size of your late-night meal and stowing the package away.

8. Sugar makes kids hyperactive.

Bad news for parents! Your child’s restless, unruly behavior can no longer be blamed on their high-sugar snacks.

Research studying how children reacted to diets containing different amounts of sugar found that no amount of sugar (artificial or natural) affected their behavior—not even in participants diagnosed with attention deficit–hyperactivity disorder.

Where a noticeable response did occur was in the parents. 

When told that their children were given sugar (even if they hadn’t been), parents automatically believed their children were acting differently even though they were not.

If personal trainers had a dollar for every time a woman came into the gym saying she doesn’t want to lift weights because she’s afraid of getting bodybuilder muscles, none of them would have to get up at 4 a.m. to support themselves anymore.

The theory that working with dumbbells causes women to make incredible gains in muscle mass, giving them a “powerlifter look,” is a myth and does a disservice to women.

Weight training can do great things for the body. It strengthens bones, increases metabolism, and, yes, builds muscle.

But without the assistance of supplements, women are incapable of getting as big as male bodybuilders, because they don’t have the same testosterone coursing through their veins.

If this comes as a surprise to you, it’s in your best interest to consider these fitness myths to spare yourself from wasting any time—or worse, hurting your body.

Myth #1: The best time to work out is first thing in the morning.

We think a morning person originated this myth! In truth, there aren’t any studies to corroborate the idea that one time of the day is better than another for pursuing physical health and success.

Since consistency is key to exercise adherence, the best time of the day to work out is whatever time of day you’re actually going to do it.

Everyone has habits and patterns, and by trial and error, you’ll be able to figure out when you most enjoy working out and are best able to fit it in.

As a side note, studies have shown that people who work out in the morning tend to feel more energized and alert throughout the day.

Myth #2: Exercise is the best way to lose weight.

Although exercise can burn calories, increase your metabolism, and make your body look more toned and healthy, exercising alone isn’t the best way to lose weight. When you’re looking to make a significant change on the scale, you can’t assume that you can eat whatever you want and just “work it off” later.

Studies have shown that it’s not lack of exercise that causes people to be overweight; it’s unhealthy dietary habits. The first step toward reaching your weight loss goals is adhering to positive dietary change. Only after you’ve established a healthy diet can you expect exercise to boost your weight loss potential.

Some research does show that when exercise and diet are combined, people lose weight much faster than by dieting alone, and they keep it off more consistently. Still, research widely points to diet playing a much bigger role in weight loss than exercise does.

Myth #3: Sit-ups are the best exercise for your abs.

Ah, the dreaded sit-up—hated by every grade-schooler who was made to do as many as possible in a minute for the Presidential Fitness Test. Unfortunately, as hard as sit-ups may be, they don’t actually do a whole lot for your core other than leave it in pain.

Sit-ups are hard on your back and hip flexors, can pull on your lower back, and only target a few muscle groups in an isolated manner.

We know your high school gym teacher (and the president) thought sit-ups were the bomb, but there are other safer and more effective exercises that target your abs.

One in particular is the plank. This core winner engages a balanced set of muscles located around the front, back, and sides of your body and gives you a chance to stretch your back (or, more technically speaking, your posterior muscles).

Myth #4: Sports drinks are the best way to rehydrate after a workout.

We know you want this one to be true (because that blue electrolyte powder is just so tasty), but unfortunately, most sports drinks are filled with sugar and preservatives that don’t do much to refuel you—unless you’ve engaged in a seriously intense workout or been exercising for more than an hour, that is.

In short, refueling after a quick jog around the neighborhood or a pickup game of basketball requires nothing more than a nice tall glass of water.

Now, if you’ve committed yourself to the town’s 10k and are sweating like a wrestler in a rubber suit, experts say you’ve got to replace your electrolytes and refuel properly.

New studies show that the best way to do this is not just with carbs and electrolytes, but with a little protein in the mix as well.

A study conducted in Spain with 24 elite cyclists showed that after 60 minutes of physical activity, beverages that contained protein and carbohydrates were absorbed better and refueled the athletes more efficiently than carb–electrolyte combos alone.

So if you’re on your way to do a half marathon, pick up a sports drink that’s got some protein in it for after the race.

Myth #5: It takes two weeks to get out of shape.

If it takes forever to get in shape, it should take just as long to get out of shape, right?

Unfortunately, no.

The two-week rule that floats around some gyms and keeps not-so-motivated exercisers feeling confident their gains won’t go to waste if they ditch out for 14 days is, for the most part, wishful thinking.

On the whole, the old “use it or lose it” adage is accurate when it comes to exercise and the body.

A study of runners, rowers, and power athletes found that overall muscular strength can be maintained for as long as a month after an athlete stops their training activities but that their sport-specific skills went into decline around the two-week mark.

More specifically, slow-twitch muscle fibers in runners and fast-twitch fibers in powerlifters declined after 14 days.

And what about cardio? Well, those gains don’t fare as well when discipline goes by the wayside. Another study found that after just 12 days of inactivity, VO2 max (the maximum amount of oxygen the body can use) dropped by 7 percent, and endurance-associated enzymes in the blood decreased by 50 percent.

The moral of the story? Even though periodic rest is good for the body (and the soul), you may not want go more than a week without doing some sort of cardio, and you’ll want to get back to your strength training within a two-week timeframe.

Myth #6: Weightlifting turns fat into muscle.

“Transform your fat into muscle!” promises another fad fitness infomercial. As real (and exciting) as the actors make it sound, the reality is that you can’t turn fat into muscle.

Fat-to-muscle magic is impossible, because fat and muscle are two different types of tissues.

Fatty tissue is found between muscles and around internal organs like the heart and liver, whereas muscle tissue is found throughout the body.

Strength training builds the muscle that surrounds fat, but it doesn’t replace it. Muscle does, however, in an indirect way, use burned fat as energy to grow.

This is where the myth may have come from in the first place.

Diet and exercise create opportunities for fat to be broken down into fatty acids and glycerol, which are absorbed into your bloodstream then used by your muscles for energy.

When most people worry about health issues, typically cancer and heart disease are the first things to come to mind—and justifiably so. Studies show that these two diseases take the lives of more Americans than any others.

But did you know that there’s a silent killer that ranks near the top of the list too, killing more than 274 people per day? One American dies every six minutes from complications of a blood clot.

What is a blood clot?

A blood clot is a gelatinous mass that is formed by platelets and fibrin in order to protect you.

Blood clots’ primary function is to stop bleeding and repair damage that’s been done to an artery or a vein. Let’s say you have an injury to your artery (sometimes you can see it, sometimes you can’t). Platelets get called on to plug up the hole in the lining, then fibrin comes in to act as a final patch.

After the injury has healed and the clot is no longer necessary, your body disposes of it by dissolving it. Sometimes, however, not all goes well with this process, and problems occur.

The three biggest issues surrounding the mechanism of blood clotting involve instances in which:

1. They don’t dissolve properly.

2. They form when they’re not supposed to (like when there’s not enough circulation and blood gets stagnant).

3. They move to areas that they’re not supposed to be in. (This is type of clot is called an embolus and may “get caught” in an area and inhibit blood flow past it.)

Why does a blood clot form?

Nature intended blood clots to form to repair the body after trauma or injury, but they also form for other reasons. 

Since circulation plays a huge factor in clotting, immobility is a frequent cause of blood clots. Your blood needs to move around and flow to different parts of your body. The less you move, the more stagnant your blood becomes.

The more stagnant it becomes, the more likely it is to clot.

In a vein, stagnant blood forms small clots along the walls. These clots can grow to a size at which they partially or completely block a vein and keep blood from returning to the heart. This is called the “damming effect.”

In an artery, the mechanism of clotting is different. Plaque or atherosclerosis forms along the walls of the artery, causing it to narrow. In an effort to get blood moving, the body uses considerable force to push it through the vessels.

This force can cause plaque to dislodge, which is a problem. When plaque dislodges, your body goes into overactive mode and unnecessarily forms blood clots.

What are the risk factors for forming blood clots?

Sometimes you can blame your tendency to clot on your ancestors, but more often lifestyle plays a huge part in unnecessary clotting. Here are the most common risk factors:

-High blood pressure

-Diabetes

-High cholesterol

-Smoking

-Certain medications, such as birth control pills

-Heart conditions

-Genetic disorders

-Long trips with prolonged immobility

-Surgery (especially when casts and splints are used)

-Pregnancy

-Menstruation

-Age (people over age 60 have an increased increased risk)

-Obesity

-Certain cancers

-Certain inflammatory diseases

-Lack of physical activity

What are the signs that you may have a blood clot?

Unfortunately, some blood clots cause no symptoms until things have progressed to a serious stage (e.g., they become dislodged or rupture). Generally, if you have a clot in a vein, it develops slowly with a gradual onset of swelling and pain. These symptoms normally take hours to progress.

If you’ve got a clot in an artery, it’s much more of an immediate event. Your tissues need oxygen all of the time, and any loss of blood supply will create a situation where you’ll feel the symptoms right away. However, as acute as this type of blood clot is, there are warning signs that normally precede artery blockage.

If you experience any of the following, you may have a clot in a vein or an artery. Any of these signs warrants contacting your doctor or healthcare provider immediately.

1. Your skin is burning or freezing.

When there’s a disruption of blood flow, your body will let you know by changing the temperature of the area where the clot is. If you notice a part of your body that’s suddenly hot or extremely cold, call your doctor.

2. You have pale or reddened skin.

Along with disrupted blood flow and temperature change, you’ll also notice a change in the color of your skin.

If one area looks much paler or significantly redder than other areas, this can mean a blood clot as well.

3. You feel tingling in your arms or legs.

Are you feeling a persistent tingling in one arm or leg? Pay attention to see if it passes. If you have high blood pressure, be especially vigilant about watching for this sign.

4. You experience shortness of breath.

Shortness of breath and rapid breathing that are also accompanied by chest pain, a rapid pulse, and light headedness are symptoms of a pulmonary embolism (a blood clot located in the lung). This is a life-threatening condition and should be taken very seriously.

5. Your leg hurts or you feel a leg cramp.

Persistent pain or cramping in one area of one leg is a warning signal that something may be wrong. If it’s accompanied by change in color or temperature of the same area of the skin, you should call a doctor.

Deep vein thrombosis (DVT, a blood clot that forms in a vein—typically in a leg) and arterial blood clots in the leg can move and end up as a pulmonary embolism. Take these signs very seriously.

6. You’re having trouble speaking.

If you’re having trouble speaking and this is accompanied by vision change, dizziness, and/or weakness in one side of the body, you may be experiencing a stroke (or a blood clot in an artery of the brain).

This is a life-threatening condition and the sooner you get medical attention, the better your prognosis will be.

7. You’re sweating profusely.

Excessive perspiration is a sign that you may have a blood clot in the lung or the heart (otherwise known as a heart attack).

If you’re feeling this along with chest pain, shortness of breath, nausea, indigestion, and/or a rapid heart rate, go straight to your doctor or the emergency room.

8. Your back is hurting in a specific, non-muscular spot.

We don’t often associate back pain with a blood clot. But persistent back pain that’s not alleviated through stretching and massage can be a symptom of a blood clot in the pelvic area or the inferior vena cava (the main abdominal vein). Permanent damage may occur if this clot goes untreated, because it cuts off blood to the extremities.

9. You have blood in your stool.

Finding blood in your bowel movement is quite unnerving and can be attributed to many things. If it’s accompanied by nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and/or abdominal pain, it may be mesenteric ischemia (a blood clot to an artery in the small intestine) and needs to be treated immediately.

In all of these cases, it’s always better to be safe than sorry. If you have a concern, contact your healthcare provider or nearest urgent care facility or hospital right away.

You’ve got your heart and mind set on getting pregnant. You’re armed with a calendar and an ovulation test—and you’re off to the races! As simple as we all wish it were to get pregnant, unfortunately, studies show that it may not be as easy as we hope.

There are many factors that can affect a woman’s (or man’s) fertility. Some are well known, and others are quite unexpected. For example, did you know that if you’ve had your tonsils or your appendix removed, you’re more fertile than others who didn’t?
Researchers at the University of Dundee in Scotland evaluated 530,000 women in a 15-year study. They found that women who had either their appendix or tonsils removed were more likely to get pregnant than those who hadn’t. Pretty incredible!

We’re not suggesting that you sign up for elective surgical procedures in order to conceive, but this does demonstrate that the factors that have an impact on fertility are often mysterious and surprising. The way we go about our daily lives can interfere with our fertility too.
The good news is that there are some lifestyle changes we all can make that may increase our chances of getting pregnant. Read on to see if you can improve your fertility odds by making some simple changes to your daily routines.

1. If You Text at Night

You know that it’s bad for your mental health to keep working on your phone way past your bedtime, but did you know that it can affect your ability to conceive, as well?

According to a study published in the Journal of Fertility and Sterility, exposure to artificial light at night—like that emitted by phones and laptops—can affect your ability to conceive and can also harm your fetus if you’re already pregnant.
This type of light exposure has been shown to suppress the production of melatonin in the reproductive tract. One of melatonin’s normal roles is to protect eggs from free radicals—especially during ovulation.

Free radicals can damage your eggs and affect fertilization. If you’re already pregnant, the light can also mess with your fetus’ internal clock, which may result in long-term issues.

2. If You Have a Lot of Cavities

Studies show that a woman’s oral health could be related to her ability to reproduce. You may notice that taking good care of your teeth results in them looking great, but the benefits extend way beyond that.

It appears that the better care you take of your teeth, the more fertile you are. A study in the Journal of Periodontology found higher levels of gum inflammation and bleeding in women who had trouble getting pregnant and sought out fertility treatments. If you hope to get pregnant in the near future, keep your mouth clean and schedule your dental visits for every six months.

3. If You Don’t Meditate

Have a high-stress job without a proper stress management routine? It may be affecting your ability to ovulate. A study published in the Journal of Human Reproduction found a correlation between high stress levels and increased infertility.

In fact, women with high levels of the stress hormone alpha-amylase had a 29 percent lower chance of getting pregnant. Their risk for infertility was also double that of women with lower levels of alpha-amylase. One more reason to book that yoga class today!

4. If You Have High Cholesterol

Think that high cholesterol levels are only bothering your blood vessels? Think again! A study in the Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism found that the higher a woman’s cholesterol was, the longer she tried to get pregnant.

The study also showed that guys aren’t off the hook either. When both male and female partners had high cholesterol, it was even harder to conceive.

5. If You Love Junk Food

Hormones that have a role in conception (such as progesterone, insulin, and testosterone) are dependent on the body being nourished to function properly.

If your junk food addiction is leaving you malnourished in important nutrients like zinc, vitamin D, and B6, you could unknowingly be diminishing your ability to make a baby.
Want to boost your fertility even more?

A study published in Clinical Science found that eating a big breakfast (equivalent to half of your daily caloric intake) could increase your ability to conceive.

6. If You Use Lubricants

Lubricants can help make the process of getting pregnant more fun, but unfortunately some of them can also hurt your ability to conceive. Even if they don’t contain a spermicide, some lubricants can affect the sperm anyway.

If you need to use a lubricant and you’re trying to get pregnant, experts recommend using the sperm-friendly lubricant Pre-Seed (which is available over the counter).

7. If You Smoke

If you haven’t been able to give up your smoking habit, maybe this will give you the extra nudge you need. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) estimates that smoking is linked to 13 percent of infertility cases. And that’s not all.

Another study found that women who were around secondhand smoke for six or more hours a day were 36 percent more likely to have trouble getting pregnant. The good news is that if you give up smoking, your fertility will return to normal after about a year. So there’s no better time than now to ditch the habit!

8. If Your Clothes Aren’t Fitting Right

Weight is a big issue if you’re trying to get pregnant. Whether you weigh too much or too little, both can affect your periods and ovulation. The ASRM estimates that 12 percent of infertility cases are related to weight.

In the case of weight and exercise, moderation is really the key. It’s important to be fit and healthy without taking it too far. Experts suggest that body mass index (BMI) be kept in the normal range, making sure not to let it drop below 18 or rise above 25.

9. If Your Cervical Mucus Is off

What you might know is that cervical mucus is the fluid secreted by the cervix…but what you may not realize is that one of its jobs is to protect sperm as it travels up the reproductive tract. Problems can occur if your cervical mucus is abnormal—mostly if it’s too thick.

10. If You Have Uterine Polyps or Fibroids

Polyps and fibroids are benign growths that attach to the uterine wall. There is a slight difference between them.

11. You’re Getting Older

This is true of everyone, obviously. As much as you want to check a whole bunch of things off your bucket list before you get pregnant, unfortunately, increasing age isn’t your friend when it comes to fertility.

A woman’s fertility naturally starts to decline at the age of 32. Then there’s another dip after the age of 35, and a big one after 40.
A woman is born with a limited number of eggs (unlike sperm, which are constantly being made), and those numbers drop over time. Additionally, as you age, the quality of eggs that you have left diminishes.

If you’re over age 35 and want to get pregnant, experts suggest that you try for six months. If after that time you’ve had no luck, you should consult with a specialist to see if there are any complications or treatments that you can consider.