Rethinking Infertility

If you’re struggling to conceive, it’s easy to feel like something is wrong with your body. You might have been told your hormones are “out of balance,” that your age is working against you, or that your only option is assisted reproductive technology.

But what if fertility isn’t something that needs to be forced—what if it’s something that happens naturally when your body is in the right state?

Your body isn’t broken. Your body wants to get pregnant.

However, pregnancy isn’t a biological necessity—it’s a privilege. From a survival standpoint, your body will only prioritize reproduction when it perceives that conditions are safe and optimal. If there’s a roadblock—whether it’s inflammation, nutrient deficiencies, metabolic dysfunction, or hidden stress—your body will protect itself first, delaying pregnancy until those issues are resolved.

This isn’t infertility. This is your body’s built-in survival mechanism at work.

So, if your body wants to get pregnant, the real question isn’t “how can I force pregnancy to happen?” but rather:

“What’s preventing my body from doing what it was designed to do?”

Why Your Body “Shuts Down” Fertility When Conditions Aren’t Right

The human body is highly intelligent. It is constantly assessing its environment—both internally and externally—to determine whether it’s a good time for reproduction. If it perceives any kind of imbalance, deficiency, or stress, it will shift its resources away from fertility and focus instead on survival.

This is why infertility isn’t the problem—it’s a symptom.

When a woman isn’t ovulating regularly, struggling with recurrent miscarriages, or experiencing unexplained infertility, these aren’t isolated issues. They are the body’s way of communicating that something deeper is going on.

Here’s why your body might be putting pregnancy on hold:

1️⃣ Your Gut Isn’t Absorbing the Nutrients Needed for Pregnancy

Fertility depends on the body having enough essential nutrients to support ovulation, implantation, and foetal development. But what happens when the digestive system isn’t functioning properly?

If you have gut inflammation, leaky gut, or microbiome imbalances, your body may not be absorbing the vitamins and minerals needed to produce quality eggs or maintain hormonal balance.

Even if you eat a nutrient-rich diet, it won’t translate to fertility if those nutrients aren’t being properly digested and absorbed. Without B vitamins, magnesium, zinc, and healthy fats, your body won’t be able to produce optimal levels of oestrogen, progesterone, or thyroid hormones—all of which are critical for conception.

From your body’s perspective, nutrient deficiencies signal a lack of resources, making it less likely to prioritize pregnancy.

2️⃣ Your Blood Sugar Is Sending “Survival Mode” Signals

Blood sugar is more than just an energy regulator—it’s a major fertility signal.

When blood sugar is unstable—due to insulin resistance, frequent sugar spikes, or chronic stress—your body perceives metabolic instability. This triggers a stress response that can:

• Disrupt ovulation
• Lower progesterone levels (essential for sustaining pregnancy)
• Reduce egg quality
• Increase miscarriage risk

The body is designed to prioritize blood sugar regulation over fertility, because unstable blood sugar levels are a direct threat to survival. If your cells aren’t getting the energy they need due to insulin resistance or chronic glucose fluctuations, your reproductive system takes a backseat.

In short, your body won’t encourage pregnancy if it thinks energy availability is unreliable.

3️⃣ Your Thyroid Isn’t Regulating Your Metabolism Properly

The thyroid gland is one of the most important regulators of fertility. It controls metabolism, hormone production, and energy levels—all of which affect reproductive function.

If the thyroid is underactive (hypothyroidism) or overactive (hyperthyroidism), your body may experience:

• Irregular menstrual cycles
• Low progesterone (which makes implantation difficult)
• Increased miscarriage risk
• Poor egg quality

Your thyroid plays a direct role in pregnancy success. If it’s not functioning optimally, your body may perceive that it doesn’t have the metabolic energy to support a growing baby—and it will delay conception as a result.

4️⃣ Chronic Inflammation Is Disrupting Reproductive Signals

Inflammation is the body’s natural defense mechanism against infection, injury, and toxins. However, chronic low-grade inflammation—caused by stress, poor diet, environmental toxins, or autoimmune conditions—can interfere with fertility in several ways:

• It can damage egg quality by increasing oxidative stress.
• It can lead to implantation failure by making the uterine lining less receptive.
• It can trigger autoimmune responses that attack sperm, embryos, or reproductive tissues.

Many women with unexplained infertility have underlying inflammation that is silently disrupting their ability to conceive and sustain a pregnancy.

Since inflammation is a warning signal to the body, it may interpret chronic inflammation as a sign that conditions are not safe for pregnancy.

5️⃣ Stress & Cortisol Are Signalling “Now Is Not the Time”

The connection between stress and fertility is often misunderstood. You’ve probably heard people say, “Just relax and it will happen.” But stress is not just an emotional state—it’s a biochemical response that influences reproductive function.

When the body experiences chronic stress, it produces high levels of cortisol, a hormone that:

• Lowers progesterone levels (needed to sustain pregnancy)
• Inhibits ovulation by disrupting the brain’s communication with the ovaries
• Increases inflammation, which affects egg quality and implantation

From your body’s perspective, stress—whether from emotional pressure, over-exercising, poor sleep, or blood sugar fluctuations—is a sign of danger. It tells your body that now is not a good time to get pregnant.

If cortisol levels remain high, fertility is deprioritized in favour of survival mode.

6️⃣ Your Body Is Overloaded with Environmental Toxins

We live in an environment filled with hormone-disrupting chemicals that interfere with reproductive health. These toxins—found in plastics, personal care products, and even food packaging—can mimic or block natural hormones, sending mixed fertility signals to the body.

Certain toxins, known as endocrine disruptors, can:

• Lower egg quality
• Disrupt oestrogen and progesterone balance
• Increase the risk of miscarriage
• Contribute to unexplained infertility

Since fertility depends on hormonal balance, exposure to these chemicals can confuse the body and make conception more difficult.

Final Thoughts: Your Body Is Protecting You, Not Failing You

Infertility is often framed as a problem that needs fixing. But from a functional medicine perspective, it’s a symptom that needs understanding.

Your body is not against you—it’s working for you. If pregnancy isn’t happening, it’s because your body is trying to protect you from something it perceives as a threat to successful reproduction.

Instead of asking, “How can I force my body to get pregnant?” the real question should be:

“What does my body need to feel safe enough to conceive?”

Because your body wants to get pregnant—we just have to remove the roadblocks.

📝 Take my FREE Hormone Health Quiz to uncover potential imbalances that could be affecting your ability to conceive.