When it comes to general health and wellbeing, most people know that there are benefits to being proactive. By sticking to a nutritious diet, for instance, you may be able to prevent diabetes and other metabolic challenges down the line. Similarly, regular exercise can reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke. Put another way: by making healthy lifestyle choices today, you can avoid a slew of problems tomorrow.
In the case of reproductive health, however, this sort of proactive approach is surprisingly rare. Many women start thinking seriously about fertility only when they begin trying to conceive; likewise, they often take steps to improve their reproductive wellness only after encountering fertility challenges.
When the issue is heart health, we know we should try to get fit before something bad happens. So why aren’t we similarly proactive about our reproductive health?
A matter of priorities
Reproductive health shouldn’t be the sole focus of a woman’s life. After all, it’s taken decades to chip away at oppressive gender norms that limit women to the roles of “wife” and “mother.” Yet, could an understandable fear of these sexist beliefs cause us to swing too far in the opposite direction?
Today, women see themselves as more than baby-making machines—and that’s a great thing. Though work remains to be done, we now have access to more professional opportunities than ever before. However, as women increasingly prioritize their careers, the idea of becoming a mom may feel inconsistent with their identity as a professional. As such, we may push thoughts of fertility to the back of our minds until the moment that we’re ready to conceive.
The narrow view of fertility
Often, we think about fertility as somehow detached from the rest of our health. Most women have been told that fertility tends to decline with age, but don’t necessarily know how other medical, psychological, and social factors influence reproductive health. Because of this, it can be easy to think of fertility as something irrelevant to daily life, or to think of “proactivity” as nothing more than fertility tests for those trying to conceive.
In reality, fertility is affected by everything from our genetics and exercise habits to our stress and sleep patterns. Armed with this information, it’s easier to identify ways in which fertility is entangled with the rest of our physical and mental wellbeing, and to start thinking about proactive choices to improve reproductive health.
Becoming proactive
At Rita Health, we believe that the more you know about your fertility, the better equipped you are to make lifestyle choices that support reproductive health—and, in many cases, general health. Using AI and the latest research, we’ve developed a system that helps women with their fertility journey in a proactive, rather than reactive, manner.
A proactive fertility approach starts with curiosity. Do you have a good sense of when you ovulate? What about how many hours you sleep each night? Do you know your family’s reproductive history? Understanding these factors will give you a better sense of your fertility status and, in many cases, can help you improve it.
Be sure to take our digital fertility assessment to learn more about the variables that influence your reproductive health and to become a proactive participant in your reproductive journey.
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