How to Prepare for Preconception: Lifestyle Tips for Couples

The preconception journey is not a solo one: in order to find success as a couple, you and your partner must work as a team and understand your roles in the process. If you’re thinking about how to prepare for preconception but aren’t sure where to begin, you’re not alone. While there are various components to preparing for preconception, we have some easy basics to help you and your partner be as healthy and ready as possible. Preconception health is both an individual and partnership experience, and this blog offers you tips for lifestyle adjustments and actionable starting points you need to grow your future family.

Starting the Preconception Journey as a Team

Beginning your preconception experience might feel overwhelming, but you should start with something simple and accessible: conversation. Discussing shared values, hopes, concerns, and expectations with your partner will increase your bond and ensure you’re on the same page for lifestyle, financial, health, and family planning goals.

Wondering how to navigate these conversations with your partner? Resources like couples counseling and coaching support your emotional readiness process so you can both align your physical health goals with your mental health needs. More specifically, preconception counseling “consists of health promotion, risk assessment, and education that occurs early enough to optimize an individual’s health prior to and during” the preconception journey.

Adopting a Fertility-Friendly Diet

Healthy nutrition is not just about the mother’s health: both partners should prioritize their diet to support their preconception journey. The term “you are what you eat” is especially true for preconception, and eating foods rich in vitamins and minerals (like folate, zinc, and omega-3s) plays a role in egg and sperm health. This doesn’t mean giving up your favorite goodies and treats, but you might be surprised at how far limiting processed foods and sugars – and prioritizing hydration – goes in supporting your preconception journey.¹

While diet is a big piece of the preconception puzzle, supplements and prenatals can give you the extra help you need. The Kaneka Ubiquinol^® preconception and reproductive health supplement for women and the preconception supplement for men give you peace of mind as you work on growing your family.

Read more: Prepare for Preconception With Support From Kaneka Ubiquinol^®

Importance of Exercise and Reproductive Health

No preconception journey is complete without exercise and movement to accompany a healthy diet. Yet, like anything in the preconception process, each partner plays a role. Regular exercise is important for both partners to balance hormones, manage stress, and promote couples bonding. Movement doesn’t have to be rigorous or extreme: find movements that work for you like walking, yoga, strength training, and moderate cardio. Many of these are already ideal for couples bonding, as you can jog, dance, hike, or bike together and build your emotional connection!

While movement is magic for preconception, there is such a thing as too much exercise for the preconception journey. Women, especially, should be wary of overexercising and overtraining, as overexertion can impact ovulation. Make sure you approach your exercise routine with balance and moderation.

Stress Management and Emotional Well-being

Stress is part of life, but it can also have negative impacts on your health and emotional well-being. Managing stress is particularly important in the preconception process because stress can affect your hormones, vitals, and mental health. In fact, a recent study found that when patients focused on minimizing their psychological stress, they had better preconception success.²

Luckily, we have some tips for reducing stress so your body and mind can stay healthy and supported:

Identify Your Stress Triggers:

Between work, family, and finances, life can get overwhelming quickly. Understanding each other’s triggers can help you both work together to foster a healthy environment.

• Practice Mindfulness, Meditation, and Relaxation Techniques: There is no shortage of tools and techniques for grounding yourself and managing your feelings. Try meditation apps, breathing exercises, and grounding practices.
• Support Each Other’s Mental Health: Sometimes, we don’t have all the answers to help each other. Encouraging one another to prioritize mental health, and seek professional support when needed, is important for a healthy relationship.

Detoxing Your Environment

Managing your physical and mental well-being is one thing, but controlling the health of your environment is another critical component to preconception. Toxins, bad air quality, and other substances like alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine can have impacts on preconception health. While you can’t control every element of your environment, you can focus on the following to give you more confidence in your preparation:

Minimize Toxins in the Home:

Cleaning products are the biggest culprits of toxins in the home, but items like candles and skincare products pose risks, too. If you’re looking for ways to reduce toxins in your home, try switching to clean and green products.

• Consider Air and Water Quality: Investing in air filters, opening windows, and going fragrance-free are some of the easiest ways to improve your air and water quality and positively impact your preconception health.
• Limit Alcohol, Tobacco, and Caffeine: While these substances might offer short-term comfort, they can significantly affect both partners’ preconception health. Cutting back is one of the most important yet often overlooked preconception lifestyle changes. Make sure you understand how each of these substances play a part in the preconception process.

Understanding the Preconception Partnership

Growing your family means fostering the united front between you and your partner. With healthy lifestyle changes that consider nutrition, exercise, stress management, and environmental elements, you and your partners can prioritize preconception health one step at a time. Small, consistent changes make a big impact on your family’s future.

Read more: Looking for More Tips on Preparing Your Body for Preconception?

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¹ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK441880/

² https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6016043/