Subtle Changes Make Significant Impact in Your Fertile Health

August 30, 2025•4 min read

For many, the path to pregnancy is anything but simple. Months (or years) of disappointment, vague labels like “unexplained infertility” and the weight of repeated treatments can leave couples feeling discouraged. But infertility is often the result of hidden imbalances, missed diagnoses, and gaps in reproductive care.

This week at Health Youniversity, we sat down with Gabriela Rosa, fertility specialist, reproductive health educator, and founder of The Rosa Institute in Australia. Gabriela brings a science-backed holistic framework that uncovers root causes and restores reproductive health. In this conversation, she shares how proper diagnosis, personalized care, and persistence can turn setbacks into breakthroughs, offering couples real strategies and renewed confidence in building their families.

What’s Causing this Infertility Crisis?

Fertility challenges are increasing worldwide, driven by delayed childbearing, modern lifestyle patterns, and toxic environmental exposures. These influences compound, making it harder to conceive and maintain a healthy pregnancy. This adversely impacts our physical, physiological and emotional well being and can strain our personal and professional relationships.

These insidious compounding issues can oftentimes be behind a diagnosis of “unexplained infertility” Subtle hormonal shifts, sperm irregularities, undetected infections, as well as environmental triggers such as plastics, phthalates and parabens, and toxic volatile organic compounds (VOC) can be found in our unfiltered water, ultraprocessed foods, in our personal care and home cleaning products. They negatively influence hormone balance, egg and sperm quality, and overall health and vitality.

What can you do now to improve your fertility?

Nutrition: A nutrient-rich, anti-inflammatory diet lowers inflammation, supports hormonal balance, and strengthens egg and sperm quality.
Environmental Exposures: Hidden toxins like plastics, phthalates, and PFAS can disrupt hormones and impair fertility. Simple shifts like using glass or stainless steel, filtering water, and choosing cleaner products can reduce this burden and protect reproductive health.
Movement and Targeted Circulation: this is where Transcutaneous Electrical Acupoint Stimulation (TEAS) - the secret sauce in the Preconception Plan Perfected course at Health Youniversity, is revolutionary. Research shows that for women over 35 undergoing a frozen embryo transfer (thus, a demographic that is struggling with fertility) had a whopping 42% increase in live birth rate when using TEAS! Learn more at https://healthyouniversity.co/programs/

Hidden Barriers to Conception

Infertility is often the accumulation of small obstacles. On their own, these may not seem enough to explain subfertility, but combined, they create significant barriers.

Some of the most common include:

Irregular Cycles: Disrupted ovulation makes it difficult to identify fertile windows, reducing chances of conception each month.
Sperm Quality Issues: Problems with morphology, motility, or DNA fragmentation limit fertilization, even if counts appear normal.
Undetected Infections: Conditions like bacterial vaginosis can lower sperm quality, interfere with implantation, and silently block conception.
Hormonal Imbalances: Beyond estrogen and progesterone,disruptions in thyroid, cortisol and insulin can interfere with ovulation, implantation, or maintaining a healthy pregnancy.
Lifestyle and Environmental Stressors: Poor diet, smoking, or toxin exposure place additional strain on our liver, microbiome and, of course, reproductive health..

Pathways to Optimizing Fertility

Conception and healthy pregnancies depend on the quality of eggs and sperm, hormonal balance, and the body’s ability to sustain implantation. Because these systems are influenced by lifestyle, medical conditions, and environment, optimizing fertility means creating conditions where the body is consistently supported.

Preconception Health Timeline

Egg and sperm health do not change overnight. Eggs require at least 3-4 months to mature before ovulation; ideally, we should give ourselves 12 months to prepare for conception. Sperm health is also shaped by ongoing lifestyle and medical factors. Preparing for conception months in advance lowers inflammation, restores balance, and creates a stronger foundation for reproduction and pregnancy.

Fertility breakthroughs happen when science, holistic support, and determination come together — restoring whole health and reproductive health for parents, babies, families and the future.

Check out all of our episodes on the following platforms:

Know the status of your fertility health. Take our FREE Fertility Quiz now: http://yourfertilityquiz.com/

Fulfill your dream of a family. Know your best options for a healthy pregnancy: https://www.healthyouniversity.co/programs

Boost Employee Productivity by Investing in their Fertility Health. Check out our Corporate Wellness program and know the benefits it can bring to your company: https://www.healthyouniversity.co/corporate-wellness

Gabriela Rosa is a Harvard-awarded fertility specialist and reproductive health educator with over two decades of experience helping couples overcome infertility and miscarriage. As the founder and CEO of The Rosa Institute in Australia, she leads a global team delivering evidence-based, integrative care that addresses both the science and the lifestyle factors essential for lasting reproductive success.

Website: https://fertilitybreakthrough.com/

X: https://x.com/gabrielarosa

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fertilitybreakthrough/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FertilitySpecialistGabrielaRosa

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosa-institute/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gabrielarosafertility

Medical Disclaimer:

By listening to the Health Youniversity podcast, you agree not to use this podcast as medical advice to treat any medical condition for yourself or others. Consult your healthcare provider for any medical issues you may have. This entire disclaimer also pertains to any guests or contributors to any Health Youniversity podcast.

Dr. Susan Fox

I am a women’s health expert with a specialty in working with women and couples navigating fertility challenges for more than 20 years. I look forward to helping you realize your dream of family. I’m also a mother, a sister, a friend. I live in beautiful Northern California, where the nature of Mt. Tamalpais, the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay are my backyard. Traditional Chinese Medicine discovered me in 1978, when I was struggling with digestive complaints that flummoxed medical doctors. It wasn’t until I received my first acupuncture treatment and herbal prescription that I connected my medical condition to grief over loss of a loved one; that the stress of holding in such huge emotions was literally tying me up in knots, and I was finally able to heal. Discovering the powerful links between the physical, the mental, the emotional, the spiritual, and the environmental shifted my understanding of health and wellness forever. For more than 20 years, I’ve had the privilege of learning and implementing Whole Systems Traditional Chinese Medicine to understand the root causes of health conditions and realize optimal health and well-being. I am a strong believer in the importance of health education, for knowledge is power when you have the tools for effective self care.

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