How Gut Health Impacts Fertility

After healing her own cycle through acupuncture and Ayurveda, Michelle Oravitz made it her mission to help other women do the same. Now a licensed acupuncturist and fertility coach, she blends Eastern medicine and modern insight to support women on their fertility journeys. In this article, she explores the powerful connection between gut health and reproductive wellbeing—and why healing the gut may be the missing link for many.

The fertility-gut connection you didn’t know you needed.

Did you know that approximately 70% of your immune system resides in your gut? And that your gut health can impact your chances of conception?

When it comes to gut health, most people may not realize that it doesn’t just impact digestion and that it is the center to so many other processes in the body which include conception, immune regulation, and even a person’s emotional state. 

Unfortunately, we are living at a time where we are exposed to food ingredients, environmental toxins, and stress levels that can impact our gut health in ways we’ve never seen before. We are also more removed from nature than ever before, which is one of the ways our bodies regulate its microbiome from the soil and other ways. 

Why Gut Health Needs to Be a Priority When it Comes to Fertility Health

Most people who are trying to conceive may overlook the importance of their gut health since it doesn’t seem to play a direct role on reproductive health. However, once they begin seeing alternative practitioners, they often learn that gut health can impact so many processes in the body like hormonal balance, nutrition absorption, and that many autoimmune and inflammatory conditions can be addressed by healing the gut.

In Traditional Chinese medicine, the spleen and stomach are paired organs that play an important role in digestive health. Not only are they central to digestive health, but when they function optimally, they are able to extract the nutrients from food and use it to build healthy blood. In TCM, blood is central to supporting the menstrual cycle, reproductive health, and so many other processes in the body which impact a woman’s ability to conceive. 

The energy and strength of the spleen and stomach can get injured by over work, or over thinking. Similarly, conventional research shows that our mental and emotional states can directly impact our gut microbiome and gut health. A study sampled the gut mibrobiome of  Tibetan Buddhist monks along with neighboring residents and found that the long term meditating monks had significantly more enriched microbiome which is associated with enhanced immune function, less inflammation, and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease along with many other benefits. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36760344/

Studies also show that gut dysbiosis, which is an imbalance in the gut microbiome, is associated with various mental and emotional disorders. These studies are just a few examples of how the body and mind interact through the gut brain axis and it also clues us into one way of improving our gut health – the mind. It also reflects what has been taught for thousands of years in TCM, that the spleen and stomach are intertwined with the way our mind functions.

Addressing the gut in order to support and resolve many conditions that lead to fertility challenges is vital. PCOS, Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, and Endometriosis are just a handful of conditions that reflect and respond to gut health. Therefore, it is crucial to address one’s digestive and gut health in order to support so many other non-gut related conditions in the body.

The Role of Our Enteric Nervous System and The Vagus Nerve

Did you know that your whole digestive system (starting from your esophagus and ending in your rectum) is home to approximately 500 million neurons. It has a bidirectional relationship with your central nervous system and the communication happens via the vagus nerve, which is the longest cranial nerve in the body. 

The Vagus nerve plays a role in the body’s parasympathetic nervous system, which is also referred to as rest and digest since it is an optimal nervous system state for digestion to occur. Besides impacting digestion (secretions, motility), the Vagus nerve also plays an important role in regulating heart rate, blood pressure, inflammation, emotional balance, immune response and much more.

As we can see, the Vagus nerve is just one really important asset we can use to support gut health and the great news is, there are ways in which you can stimulate the Vagus nerve in order to help balance your nervous system as well as support your gut health.

Ways to Support Your Fertility by Supporting Your Gut Health

There are many things you can do to support your gut health, and surprisingly, they aren’t complicated! Here’s a list of implementations you can start right away:

Eat mindfully: This includes chewing really well and making sure your saliva mixes thoroughly with your thoroughly chewed up food. Your saliva has lots of digestive enzymes that support your digestive process and allowing ample time for chewing and properly saturating your food with saliva will ease your digestive process tremendously! Eating mindfully also means looking at your food (which increases saliva) as well as sitting down and not doing other activities which can induce a sympathetic (or fight or flight) state of the nervous system. When you’re sitting down mindfully, you are also prepping your nervous system to get into an optimal “rest and digest” mode. 
Listen to your body’s cues after eating certain foods: We all have something called “interoception” which are sensations of communication that our bodies give us. When people get in tune with these sensations, they will notice if certain foods feel good for them or if their bodies feel off after eating them. Begin paying attention to how certain foods make your body feel, and start to eliminate foods that decrease your energy or upset your stomach. Over time, this habit will get easier and you will increase your ability to become more intuitive with your eating.
Consider taking a spore based probiotic: I often recommend spore based probiotics because they survive the digestive tract and activate where they are supposed to, which is in the colon. They are easy to store since they don’t need to be refrigerated, and are safe to take in conditions such as SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth). Always consult your doctor before starting any supplements to ensure that they are appropriate for your specific needs.
Activate your vagus nerve by doing specific practices: Ways to activate your vagus nerve is through humming, massaging your ears, cold exposure (caution if actively trying to conceive or if you tend to get cold easily), doing breathing exercises like diaphragmatic breathing, gargling, doing acupuncture, and heartmath breathing through the heart center. Activating your vagus nerve can be very beneficial for your digestive health but it can also support hormone balance as well as support good sleep and overall health.
Massage your abdomen often: Massaging your abdominal area is an incredibly effective practice that can support healthy blood flow to your digestive system as well as your reproductive system. It can also support calming your nervous system, which as we learned, is key to digestive health! The best part about it is that it’s free, and you can implement an easy routine that you can do every night before you fall asleep!

Your reproductive health relies on so much more than just hormones. The health of your gut can impact so many processes that impact and support conception. When your gut is not functioning optimally, it can cause a rise in inflammation, contribute to autoimmunity factors, inhibit the ability for the body to absorb nutrients, or cause hormonal imbalances to name just a few! This is why it is crucial to address the gut and investigate whether it is a hidden contributor if you are experiencing fertility challenges. You can start by finding a functional gut test provider which can be a functional doctor, acupuncturists, functional nutritionists, or naturopathic doctor. Although it can be overwhelming to go through this detective work in order to understand how to optimize your fertility health, it will ultimately lead you to a more empowered state on your journey.

Michelle Oravitz, AP, L.Ac, FABORMFounder of The Wholesome Lotus and host of The Wholesome Fertility Podcast