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Writer's pictureDr Lauren Rockliffe

The benefits of health coaching for fertility and conception

Lifestyle factors play an important role in fertility and conception, so if you’re currently trying to get pregnant and are struggling to conceive, this might be something you’ve started thinking about. Things like the amount of alcohol you drink, whether or not you smoke, your diet, physical activity levels, caffeine intake, sleep quality, and stress levels can all affect fertility. And this doesn’t apply just for women - these same lifestyle factors can affect male fertility too!


Whilst we might *know* that a healthy lifestyle can help to support fertility, the reality is that it can sometimes be really hard to find the headspace to start thinking about making these changes. Struggling to conceive can obviously take a huge emotional toll, and if you’re undergoing fertility treatment or IVF, it’s possible you’ll be experiencing some less than desirable physical side effects too. It’s therefore understandable if factoring in regular exercise and healthy meals, for example, aren't top priorities at the moment. Alternatively, you might feel like you’re ready to start making some healthy changes but find yourself stuck in ‘freeze-mode’, overwhelmed with all the information and recommended changes, and unable to decide what to action first.


This is where the support of a health coach (i.e., me!) can be invaluable. For anyone not familiar with health coaching, it’s a way of supporting and empowering people to make healthy lifestyle changes. It helps you to identify your values, to develop your confidence, build your motivation, and equips you with the knowledge and skills necessary to improve your health and wellbeing.


It might be that you’ve not previously considered working with a health coach whilst trying to get pregnant, but there are lots of reasons why it can be beneficial during this time. In this article, I’m going to outline some of those benefits and talk a little about how I can support you to make healthy lifestyle changes during this transitional time.


Woman writing in a journal after a health coaching session for fertility and conception.

Gain a clear sense of direction

As I mentioned before, there are lots of different lifestyle factors that can affect fertility and conception, which can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming and make it difficult to know where to start. Health coaching can help with this. Working together, I can help you to gain clarity about the lifestyle changes that would make the greatest impact to your health and wellbeing, and that matter most to you. I’ll support you to set clear goals for what you want to achieve during our time working together, and help you decide on the actions you’re going to take to successfully meet those goals. You’ll also be provided with tools for tracking and measuring your progress, which can help to enhance awareness and understanding of your behaviour.


Benefit from expert guidance

If you’re struggling to get pregnant, it’s likely you’ll have a lot on your mind. Rather than giving yourself one more thing to worry about or overthink, it can be useful to work with a professional instead. As an expert in behaviour change, allow me to take the reins and to guide you to make the changes that matter most to you. Once I have a clear understanding of what you’re struggling with, I’ll tailor our sessions to your needs, and provide you with the support you require to make your desired changes. Whilst the hard work is obviously done by you, it can take some of the pressure off to let someone else ‘steer the ship’ for a while, freeing up some valuable headspace when it’s needed most.


Receive emotional support

Trying to get pregnant and struggling to conceive is obviously a highly emotional experience for a lot of people. As such, having regular health coaching sessions can provide you with a safe-space, free of judgement or expectation, where you can show up just as you are and receive the support you need. As a Psychologist, I can support you to manage any distressing emotions you might be experiencing and help you to better understand yourself and any emotional or psychological barriers affecting your ability to make meaningful changes.


Be held accountable

Accountability is really important when trying to make any kind of behavioural changes. Whilst you might feel that you have the support of your partner or loved ones, oftentimes this alone isn’t sufficient to motivate meaningful change. Working with a health coach, such as myself, is one way of creating more structured accountability, as you’ll have regular sessions where I’ll review your progress and hold you accountable to the goals you’ve set for yourself. I’ll also provide you with suggestions for ways you can start to create other forms of accountability for yourself outside of our sessions.


Get in touch

If any of what I’ve described feels like it would be helpful, please get in touch. I offer a free, no-obligation call, where we can have a chat about what you’re currently struggling with and ways I can help to support you. You can book a free telephone consultation here.

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