Hot Take: Fertility Isn’t a Sign of Health

This Is a Failing Benchmark of Health

Recently, I was listening to a podcast, and the woman being interviewed said something that made me pause and nod emphatically:

“Fertility isn’t a sign of health.”

“YES!” I said emphatically. Absolutely.

As women, it’s so easy to feel like our bodies are betraying us when we’re not conceiving. We launch full-blown investigations—ones that could rival a congressional inquiry—trying to figure out what’s wrong. We hear it all: You’re too stressed. Your hormones must be off. Are you eating enough? Sleeping enough? The questions go on and on.

And underneath it all, we’re left with this heavy feeling of failure. This one thing my body is supposed to know how to do intuitively… isn’t happening.

Then—salt in the wound—we see women with glaring signs of poor health, whether it’s obesity, substance abuse, disordered eating, etc. conceive easily. It flies in the face of everything we’re told about why we’re struggling.

And here’s the kicker: I’ve met many women who point to their ability to get pregnant as proof that they’re healthy, even when their body is clearly waving red flags.

For decades, fertility has been seen as the gold standard of health—a sign that everything is working as it should. But the truth is much more nuanced. While fertility can be a sign of wellness, it’s not a guarantee. The ability (or inability) to conceive doesn’t tell the full story of what’s happening in the body.

So what if fertility isn’t the benchmark we’ve made it out to be?
What if it’s just one data point?
What if, for some, the ease of conception is happening despite years of ignoring the body’s signals—not because everything is in balance?

Your fertility journey doesn’t define your health. And your struggles don’t mean your body is broken.
It’s time we stopped measuring our worth—or wellness—by fertility alone.

1. Survival vs. Optimization

Reproductive capacity is deeply rooted in our biology’s survival instincts — not necessarily in thriving. The body can prioritize reproduction even when it’s running on stress hormones, inflammation, or poor nutrition. Many women, for example, continue to ovulate or even conceive while dealing with autoimmune conditions, gut dysfunction, or hormonal imbalances. Fertility in these cases doesn’t mean the body is healthy — it means it’s resilient enough to survive and reproduce under suboptimal conditions.

2. Temporary Hormonal Balance Can Be Misleading

Ovulation and regular cycles are signs of hormonal activity, but they don’t always equate to hormonal balance. Birth control withdrawal, PCOS, endometriosis, and even post-COVID cycle irregularities can result in temporary windows of fertility that mask deeper dysfunction. Some women with irregular cycles or high stress can still get pregnant — yet have trouble maintaining pregnancies due to inflammation, poor egg quality, or luteal phase defects.

3. Environmental and Epigenetic Load

We live in a time when endocrine disruptors, chronic stress, poor sleep, and nutrient-depleted diets are common. Fertility may still occur in these conditions, but that doesn’t mean the system is healthy. Fertility can persist even as toxic load accumulates, methylation becomes inefficient, or nervous system dysregulation goes unaddressed. A woman might conceive easily yet feel exhausted, inflamed, or mentally drained — all signs of deeper imbalance.

4. Menstrual Regularity ≠ Full Health

Having a regular cycle can appear healthy, but without assessing thyroid function, blood sugar regulation, inflammation markers, and mitochondrial health, we miss the full picture. Fertility is just one piece of the puzzle — not the whole.

5. Unexplained Infertility and Silent Root Causes

Up to 30% of infertility cases are labeled “unexplained,” despite couples appearing outwardly healthy. These cases often stem from hidden issues like subclinical hypothyroidism, mast cell activation, histamine intolerance, mold exposure, leptin/insulin imbalance, or immune dysregulation — none of which are detected on standard labs. These individuals may look like the epitome of health — eating clean, exercising, sleeping well — and still face fertility challenges due to hidden root causes.

Your Health Equals Long Term Implications for You & Your Baby

1. Epigenetic Programming Affects Baby’s Lifelong Health

When a woman conceives in a state of chronic inflammation, high cortisol, or nutrient deficiency, the in-utero environment can epigenetically alter how the baby’s genes are expressed. This process can predispose the child to conditions such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, asthma, and anxiety.

Key Evidence:

• Barker Hypothesis (Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, DOHaD): Suggests that fetal exposure to a stressed or nutrient-poor environment leads to increased risk of cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders in adulthood.

• Maternal stress during pregnancy has been linked to altered HPA axis development in the fetus, increasing risk of anxiety, depression, and immune dysfunction later in life.

2. Mitochondrial Health Impacts Egg Quality and Baby’s Longevity

The mother’s mitochondria are passed down exclusively to the baby. If the woman is in a state of oxidative stress or poor mitochondrial health, this can impair egg quality, reduce fertility, and potentially affect the child's cellular health and aging trajectory.

Key Evidence:

• Poor mitochondrial function is strongly associated with diminished ovarian reserve and reduced embryo viability.

• Mitochondrial dysfunction during oocyte maturation impacts chromosomal segregation and embryo implantation.

3. Nutritional Repletion Reduces Pregnancy Complications

Deficiencies in key nutrients (iron, folate, magnesium, omega-3s, B vitamins) are common even among well-fed populations and can increase risks of preeclampsia, neural tube defects, postpartum depression, and low birth weight.

Key Evidence:

• Preconception folate supplementation reduces neural tube defects by up to 70%.

• Preconception iron and omega-3 optimization has been shown to improve cognitive development in children and reduce maternal anemia and depression.

4. Regulated Nervous System = Healthier Pregnancy + Less Birth Trauma

Women who conceive in a dysregulated state (high sympathetic tone, low vagal tone, PTSD, or unresolved trauma) are more likely to experience:

• Hyperemesis

• Preterm labor

• Preeclampsia

• Fetal distress

• Postpartum depression or anxiety

Key Evidence:

• Elevated maternal cortisol in early pregnancy is linked with impaired cognitive development in children and low birth weight.

• Vagal tone correlates with reduced pain, improved labor outcomes, and better postpartum recovery.

5. Gut Health Impacts Baby’s Microbiome and Immune System

A dysbiotic or leaky gut during pregnancy can predispose the baby to allergies, eczema, asthma, and autoimmune conditions through translocation of LPS (endotoxins) and poor maternal immune regulation.

Key Evidence:

• The maternal microbiome directly influences fetal immune programming and postnatal microbiome development.

• Pre-pregnancy gut dysbiosis has been linked to increased systemic inflammation and adverse pregnancy outcomes.

6. Postpartum Depletion Is Worse Without Preconception Reserves

Many women enter pregnancy already in a state of depletion from stress, dieting, overtraining, or unresolved illness. This significantly increases risk of:

• Postpartum depression

• Autoimmunity onset (Hashimoto’s, RA)

• Persistent fatigue

• Hair loss, brain fog, and hormonal imbalance

Key Evidence:

• Postpartum autoimmune thyroiditis is more likely in women with nutrient deficiencies or pre-existing immune dysregulation.

• Women with pre-pregnancy stress and micronutrient deficiencies have higher rates of postpartum mood disorders.

When to Wait

You may want to wait to conceive if you:

• Are experiencing chronic stress, insomnia, or burnout

• Have recent or ongoing gut issues, autoimmune symptoms, or mold/toxin exposure

• Are healing from disordered eating, rapid weight gain/loss, or amenorrhea

• Have irregular cycles, PCOS, or a recent hormonal imbalance

• Are not yet repleted in micronutrients (folate, magnesium, iron, B12, etc.) - test to determine

• Are still working to regulate your nervous system or recover from trauma

The Takeaway: Fertility Is a Vital Sign — But Not the Only One

Yes, fertility is a valuable biomarker — especially when evaluating hormonal rhythm and ovulatory health — but it shouldn’t be treated as a standalone indicator of overall health. A fertile body may still be struggling, and an infertile body may be in the process of deep repair.

At The Wellness Lounge, we first want to see women taking better care of their health and body so that all women can confidently experience the most optimal conception and pregnancy. This has long term implications on the health of the baby and the long term health of the mother. We also believe fertility health is whole-body health. That means looking beyond cycles and labs to assess the immune system, gut function, stress response, environmental exposures, and even emotional health.

Whether you’re trying to conceive or simply optimize your wellness, it’s time to move beyond the myth that fertility = health — and start looking at the bigger picture.