This super simple activity can help you get pregnant again if you’ve had a miscarriage

This is major. Scientists have discovered a simple activity that could help women with a history of miscarriage conceive successfully. Lindsey Russo, a recent graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and her advisor, associate professor of biostatistics and epidemiology, Brian Whitcomb, discovered that walking could be the key to helping a woman become pregnant after experiencing pregnancy loss.

Russo and Whitcomb conducted a study in which 1,214 healthy women between the ages of 18 and 40, who had a history of one or two pregnancy losses, partook in different kinds of physical activity while actively trying to conceive. Russo stated,

"One of our main findings is that there was no overall relationship between most types of physical activity and the likelihood of becoming pregnant for women who had already had one or two pregnancy losses, except for walking, which was associated with higher likelihood of becoming pregnant among women who were overweight or obese."

Whitcomb explained that this research and these findings are particularly important because this means women can take their own health and chance of becoming pregnant into their own hands. He added that he is glad to provide scientific evidence backing up a low-cost and highly available method of heightening a woman’s chance of conception.

During the study, fecundability — or the likelihood of becoming pregnant in a single menstrual cycle — associated with walking varied from woman to woman, depending on their body mass index (BMI). For women who were overweight or obese, walking for 10 minutes at a time improved their fecundability.

Russo and Whitcomb also reported that women who partook in four hours of vigorous activity per week had higher chances of becoming pregnant than those who did no vigorous activity.

"We don't know what to make of the finding that high-intensity physical activity may have different biological effects than walking," Whitcomb said, "but our study doesn't offer enough detail to get at why vigorous activity would work differently than other levels."

Of course, the levels of activity that will result in improved fecundability will differ between all women based on how physically fit and/or physically active each woman is. The authors of this study realize that generalizing is near impossible, since the women included in their study may not represent the general public.

However, the findings of this study do conclusively and positively show that women with higher BMIs who are actively trying to get pregnant can benefit from walking.