Today, there are so many products that exploit the public’s limited awareness of our reproductive health.  These include commercials that market the pills to reverse erectile dysfunction, decrease or stop menstrual cycles, and birth control injections.  While some of these products may provide some sense of relief in the moment, they can have negative consequences for your long term health.  More importantly, there are small lifestyle adjustment that we all can use in order to prevent the need for some of these harmful products.  Here are a few tips:

1. Expand Your Thinking: sometimes one only thinks about their reproductive health during medical exams or when sex and fertility related concerns arise.  However, reproductive hormones play a vital role in every part of our lives. Also, our moods, nutrition and environment can impact how well hormones work, and how well our bodies control them.  So consider your reproductive health in everything you do; from work to play…even sleep.  A good question to ask when you are planning to eat or engage in activities is: “How is this going to affect my reproductive health?”
2. Go ORGANIC: By eating foods grown without pesticides and synthetic fertilizers, you avoid the excess hormones that can adversely effect your reproductive health.  Choosing the organic varieties of your favourite foods and beverages is an important step in maintaining  reproductive wellness.
3. Chart your cycles:  Charting the cycles of your life is a good habit, and can help you to recognize the larger productive health picture.  For men, charting your daily moods, the number of times you work-out, have sex, drink alchohol, and your temperature over 3 months can help you see your larger reproductive picture. For women, charting not only the dates of your menstrual cycles, but also the quality of it, and recording your daily waking temperature will give your health practicioner more information you can use to strategize about your health.
4. Ritualize Your Sleep: So many of us are not getting enough sleep to support the amount of energy we exert – this can truly throw your hormones for a loop.  Priortize your sleep the same way you would for events or meetings.  Make going to sleep an event and plan for it.  You will get yourself into a healthy rhythm.
5. More Lower Body Motion: Exercise is a great way to relieve stress and build stamina.  When considering reproductive health in your exercises, be sure to include pelvic movements.  Movements like belly-dancing, thrusts, “winding” are also good to do.  Consider adding hoola-hooping as part of your routine. Keigel exercises are often reserved for during pregnancy; however, these exercises are good anytime and are also good for men.