Sleep helps restore and rejuvenate the brain and organ systems -- including the reproductive system. When sleep suffers over the long run, so does our relationship with our spouse, our mood, our immunity, and even our hormone balance. Sleep loss can also lead to fertility-disrupting lifestyle factors like caffeine overuse and weight gain.
Lack of sleep may even lead to menstrual irregularity -- a factor that can delay the time it takes to conceive. When researchers polled women in notoriously sleep-deprived professions -- flight attendants and nurses working the late shift -- half of the women reported irregular menstrual cycles (compared to about 20 percent of the general population). Some stopped ovulating altogether.
Even the light we are exposed to on a day-to-day basis has an influence on ovulation and reproductive hormones -- one that has fascinated (and perplexed) researchers for years. "There is some evidence that before the age of artificial lighting, birth control pills, and working indoors, women all ovulated in sync with the phases of the moon," says Joyce Stahmann, M.P.H., a fertility educator and professional herbalist in Portland, Oregon, who teaches the Natural Fertility Management Program.
Full article: http://womenshealth.about.com/od/pregnancyrelatedissues/a/sleepsunlight.htm
