Women’s health and especially topics like fertility are very complex and sensitive at the same time. There are many rumours out there when it comes to cycle health, natural fertility and hormones. We decided to tackle the most common questions and statements around women’s heath, fertility and glucose and run a fact check.

1️⃣ Controlling blood glucose concentrations can help women stay in a healthy weight range. 

💡 Fact: Women tend to gain weight more than men. This may be due in part to the fact that women tend to accumulate more body fat and that women generally have more food cravings (premenstrual syndrome). Read more on the connection of blood glucose and weight control in our blog post.

2️⃣ Optimizing blood glucose levels can help women sleep better.

💡 Fact: Regardless of whether men or women need more rest, the fact is that both sexes do not get enough sleep. Sleep and blood sugar levels have a bidirectional relationship. This means that a bad night’s sleep affects blood sugar levels, which in turn can affect the quality of sleep. Over time, poor sleep leads to serious conditions such as obesity, coronary heart disease and diabetes, and shortens life expectancy (as does poor blood sugar control). Women are more likely to suffer from insomnia than men. This is due to hormonal changes associated with menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause, which can alter women’s circadian rhythms and thus contribute to insomnia. In general, women are more prone to depression and anxiety, as well as weight gain. The latter can be explained by the fact that women tend to have more body fat and a greater desire for food.

3️⃣ Optimizing blood glucose levels can help women overcome hormonal changes 

💡 Fact: The female reproductive system is closely related to energy metabolism and hormonal changes. This means that female hormones regulate weight, body composition (fat storage and distribution), and energy needs of women. Under normal conditions, female hormones fluctuate during the menstrual cycle and affect our energy homeostasis. Women may have greater difficulty losing weight and generally lose less weight than men on weight management programs. This may be due in part to gender differences in energy metabolism and appetite control caused by the release of reproductive hormones.

4️⃣ Optimizing blood glucose levels can help boost natural fertility

💡 Fact: Women’s fertility is affected by lifestyle factors and environmental conditions such as stressful jobs, unbalanced diet and unhealthy nutrition. In addition, a normal body weight and a balanced (neither restricted nor excessive) energy intake are important for normal female reproductive function. Several mechanisms have been discussed for how elevated blood glucose levels can affect female fertility, primarily through failure to ovulate, disruption of ovulation and endothelium, and ovarian inflammation and aging.

5️⃣ Optimizing blood glucose levels can help our microbiome.

💡 Fact: High blood glucose levels may negatively affect the female (and male) microbiome; however, there is a bidirectional relationship (similar to sleep) between blood glucose levels and the microbiome. Elevated blood glucose levels lead to alterations in our gut bacteria that have serious long-term consequences, including various diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, T2DM, immune system impairment, and negative nervous system modulation, with the gut-brain axis leading to depression, dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease.

In short: There are many reasons to manage your glucose levels in order to stay healthy. Especially for women it’s a game changer to understand what their body really needs in which phase of the cycle to fuel it the right way. No matter if you are looking to boost fertility, want to lose weight or just want to improve your sleep quality and energy levels – blood glucose tracking will help your reach your goals.