HIIT workout, crash diets may affect your fertility

Chennai: High-intensity workouts, zero-fat diets and protein powders — these may get you fit, but not fertile. According to experts, while exercise in moderation can improve metabolism and circulation, and boost your reproductive health, a strenuous fitness regime and extreme or crash diets can have a negative impact on your fertility — a problem found among middle-aged men and women.
“Everything is contributory and cannot entirely be causative. But, these days, with a fad of consuming “supplements”, taking anabolic steroids, protein-enhanced powders and also “diet” pills for quick and rapid weight-loss, there is a long-term health risk of diabetes and kidney issues, and also affects fertility,” says fertility expert Dr Priya Selvaraj of G G Hospitals, adding that studies on excessive diet and fitness having long-term health concerns on reproductive physiology is just coming up.
Peer pressure, desire to look good, offline as well as online, determination to raise the bars for personal fitness — these are some of the reasons that drive men and women to opt for the diets that promise sudden weight-loss or punishing exercise regimes.
“People working in the corporate want to look smart and presentable. With social media, there is also pressure to look good,” says Veena Sekar, dietitian and consultant at SPARRC Institute, a sports and fitness medicine centre. “So they approach trainers who put them on extreme diets or workouts as they want to deliver the results in a short period of time.”
Dr Kousalya Nathan, a consultant specialised in lifestyle management and anti-aging medicine at Apollo Spectra Hospitals, says that many female professionals now want to maintain a BMI that is lower than normal. “So they opt for detoxifications, juice diets or do intermittent fasting. But when you maintain a BMI less than 23, it affects your ovulation,” she says.
It is usually people aged between 30 and 40 who take up strict fitness routines, mostly for health reasons, says fertility expert and chairperson of Prashanth Hospital, Dr Geetha Haripriya. “They may not want to put on weight as they have a family history of diabetes. We have got people who have had an excellent sperm count earlier, currently facing fertility problems — a result of crash diets or intensive workouts,” she says.
In men, even workout clothes can be a contributing factor. “The temperature of the testicles is usually one-and-a-half degrees lesser than the body temperature, and hang loose away from the body,” says Dr Rajan Bhonsle, head, department of sexual medicine, KEM Hospital, Mumbai. “But, most men wear very tight underwear, which squeezes the testicles against the warm body, adversely affecting the production of sperms. Taking anabolic steroids also affect fertility as it suppresses testosterone and spermatogenesis.”
In women, hardcore or “obsessive” fitness routines can result in menstrual irregularities — oligomenorrhea (infrequent periods) or amenorrhoea (absence of periods), paving the way to fertility issues. “Especially, if the diet is completely leaning towards a particular tone — high protein only with supplements or an imbalance of carb and fat consumption, etc.,” says Dr Selvaraj, adding that it is now seen among women in 20s and early 30s. “In future, it would not be uncommon that these women may encounter a reduced ovarian function.”
According to Sekar, many people who get into bodybuilding have issues with fertility. “Steroid abuse can cause infertility. Also, if you have a zero-fat, high-protein diet, you are losing out on essential fatty acids, which are directly linked to fertility,” she says.
Weight cycling — losing and gaining weight — also plays havoc with your reproductive health. “Many people go on crash diets, lose weight quickly, and then gain it again soon after they stop. That’s worse than being slightly overweight,” she says.
“A good exercise pattern shouldn’t be something that your body was not used to earlier. If you have never exercised, even two hours is not good, and for those who are active, suddenly doubling or tripling it will take a toll,” says Dr Haripriya.
Dr Selvaraj says women need to be aware of their nutrition and ideal BMI. “Those in the reproductive age-group, but not leaning towards settling down, must check their fertility status at some point,” she says.