Why Belly Fat Can Be a Fertility Ally: The Science of Red Light Therapy
Why Your Fertility Journey Doesn’t Need Six-Pack Abs (And why a Little Belly Might be a Secret Advantage)
I know, I know it’s the New Year and you’re determined to improve your fitness this year and maybe shed a few lbs. If you love crunches and planks - have at it, but if sit-ups feel like unnecessary torture, read on.
Being a woman isn’t easy - we’ve been conditioned to think that having visible abs is the ultimate sign of fitness and any kind of ‘softness’ in the belly area is to be hidden. We spend so much of our lives unconsciously sucking in our stomach. (As you’re reading this try and relax your tummy area a little).
Fertility thrives on balance—hormonal balance, metabolic health, and a nurturing environment for your eggs and reproductive system. Yes excess visceral fat can disrupt this balance by contributing to inflammation and insulin resistance, but the solution isn’t extreme diets or hours of crunches.
And when it comes to optimizing your fertility and getting the most out of your red light therapy, there’s something you should know.
That little bit of belly you’re working so hard to get rid of - might, in fact, be helping you.
Take a look at this image representing a fertility goddess - curves for miles!
Venus of Willendorf
Muscle Vs Adipose Tissue: What’s the Difference?
Muscle tissue is dense and packed with fibers and has a lot of blood vessels. This is brilliant for your core but muscle is also more resistant to light penetration due to it’s density - so it absorbs higher amounts of light photons before it can reach your ovaries. It also has lots of blood vessels, which can mean free-floating mitochondria quickly take up the photonic energy as it travels through…taking those photons away from your reproductive organs. See what I mean about your belly being an ally for fertility laser treatments?
Adipose tissue is less dense which makes it more transparent to certain wavelengths so light can pass through more easily and reach the deeper organs. Adipose tissue generally absorbs less light compared to muscle as it has fewer chromophores such as hemoglobin. So under the right circumstances light can pass through adipose tisssue more effectively than muscle tissue. And if you’re using PBM to support your fertility, the ability to reach those organs is essential.
Now, don’t get me wrong - muscle is important for many reasons but when it comes to light-based therapies for fertility, having a dense wall of muscle might not be an advantage, embracing the natural curves and softness of your body might just be the answer. But bear with me - this is where it gets a little nuanced. Women with visible six-packs generally have a lower body fat percentage. Less fat in the midsection usually means that ab muscles that have been trained are more visible. This is often why you hear the saying that abs are built in the kitchen, not the gym. The visibility of ab muscles is a function of low body fat covering those muscles and those muscles having been trained and developed. The laser has to penetrate through the adipose/fat tissue AND your newly acquired fab abs. Having a round midsection might be just as hard for light to penetrate as six pack abs, in reality like many things balance is the answer, lean muscle mass and a healty body fat percentage is optimal. So hiring a trainer to build those abs for your New Year's resolution or to get that Instagram ‘bikini body’ (don’t get me started..) for the Summer can be a barrier to getting those much needed photons deep into the body.
This is why the wavelength and it’s strength (energy density) are so important in PBM therapy - they help control how deeply the light goes into the body to get the appropriate therapeutic dose to your ovaries etc.
How about we strive for less stressful New Year’s resolutions, ditch the intense ab workouts, and extend yourself a little grace as we focus on your overall wellness instead of flat abs?
You can tell your trainer I said so ;)
Tracy
