It is Summer in Los Angeles. Here is what heat is doing to your fertility, and what to do about it
- Dr. Sarah Bentolila, DAIM,L.Ac
- 8 hours ago
- 9 min read
These are the dog days of summer here in Los Angeles. "It's hot outside" is on everyone's mind and is an understatement. If you are trying to conceive or going through IVF right now, that matters more than most people realize.
Heat is not neutral for fertility.
In Chinese medicine, summer is the season that most directly impacts the yin resources that govern reproductive health.
In Western medicine, elevated temperatures have documented, measurable effects on sperm production, cervical mucus quality, and the hormonal environment of the cycle.
But worry not! With a few specific adjustments we can protect the work you are putting into your fertility treatment.
What Chinese medicine says about summer and fertility
Summer is governed by the fire element and the heart system.
It is the most yang season of the year, expansive and outward.
That yang energy is appropriate and healthy in balance. The problem for fertility patients is that excess summer heat depletes yin, and yin is the foundation of reproductive health.
Yin is the cooling, nourishing, moistening aspect of the body. It is what builds the uterine lining in the follicular phase, produces fertile-quality cervical mucus at ovulation, maintains the follicular fluid environment that nourishes developing eggs, and sustains the lubrication and receptivity of the reproductive tract.
When summer heat depletes yin, all of these functions are compromised.
The signs that summer is depleting your yin:
you feel hotter than usual in the afternoons and evenings
your mouth and throat are dry
you are thirstier than normal
your sleep is lighter and more disturbed
your cycles feel faster or more compressed
your period is lighter or the flow is drier than usual
your cervical mucus around ovulation is less abundant or absent.
If you are in active fertility treatment and you are experiencing these signs, your body is telling you something clinically useful, more than just feeling hot.
What is happening to your eggs right now
The eggs that will be retrieved at a September or October IVF retrieval, or that will be available for ovulation in early fall, are developing right now. The 90-day follicular maturation window means the biological conditions of July are directly reflected in the eggs of autumn.
The follicular environment, the fluid surrounding each developing egg inside its follicle, is acutely sensitive to oxidative stress and poor circulation.
Summer heat increases both.
Heat drives inflammatory processes
Heat depletes antioxidant reserves
In Chinese medicine terms dries the yin fluids that maintain the nourishing quality of follicular fluid.
Think of..... boiling eggs. Not exactly fertile.
For IVF patients specifically
Now is the window to take seriously.
The number of eggs your RE retrieves is determined by your ovarian reserve. The quality of what is inside each one is determined by the conditions of the preceding 90 days. You cannot change the former, but you can meaningfully influence the latter.
For patients doing a frozen embryo transfer in late summer or fall
The lining preparation period is happening now.
A yin-depleted body in July often shows up as a thinner or slower-developing lining by September.
This is one of the patterns I see most consistently at this time of year, and it is entirely addressable with the right herbs and protocol adjustments.
What is happening to sperm right now
This section is for the male partners, and it is worth reading carefully.
Keep'em cool
The testes are positioned outside the body specifically because spermatogenesis requires a temperature one to two degrees below core body temperature. When scrotal temperature rises, even modestly, sperm production is impaired. The effects are not immediate.
Because sperm take 74 days to develop, the sperm that show up at an August or September retrieval or IUI are the ones developing in the heat of late June and July right now.
Research about heat and sperm
A 2024 multi-center study published in Heliyon examining 33,234 men found that heat-related temperature anomalies during the hot season were significantly and negatively associated with sperm concentration, progressive sperm count, and total motile sperm count.
This is not a small or theoretical effect. It is a documented, measurable decline in the parameters that determine whether a sperm can fertilize an egg.
The Los Angeles summer
Living in LA adds specific heat exposures that compound the biological baseline:
sitting in a hot car in traffic
outdoor workouts in 95-degree heat
beach days, pool days
and the classic mistake of the hot tub at the Airbnb.
Every one of these raises scrotal temperature above the threshold for optimal spermatogenesis.If you have a retrieval or an IUI scheduled for August or September, the sperm quality decisions that matter most are the ones being made right now.
What to do: the practical list
These are the things I am telling every fertility patient who walks in the door this month.
For everyone: Stay hydrated, more than feels necessary
Dehydration thickens cervical mucus and reduces the volume and quality of the follicular fluid surrounding developing eggs. In Los Angeles July heat, most people are chronically mildly dehydrated without realizing it. Add electrolytes if you are sweating heavily. Plain water is not always enough when you are losing minerals through sweat.
Eat cooling foods
In Chinese medicine, foods have thermal properties independent of their temperature when you eat them. Cooling foods clear heat from the body and support yin. In Los Angeles summer, lean into:
Watermelon, cucumber, pear, mint, mung beans, tofu, leafy greens, coconut water, and lightly cooked rather than raw vegetables.
Reduce or pause: spicy food, alcohol, excessive caffeine, fried and greasy food, and anything that generates internal heat.
An iced coffee every morning is genuinely less helpful right now than a warm ginger lemon water, counterintuitive as that is.
Protect your sleep environment. Night heat disturbs the heart system in Chinese medicine, which governs sleep and emotional regulation. A cooler bedroom, silk or linen bedding, and a consistent sleep schedule protect the yin resources that govern your cycle.
Avoid excessive vigorous exercise in peak heat. Morning workouts before 9am or evening workouts after 6pm protect both you and your male partner from heat-induced hormonal and reproductive stress. Exercise is important and should not be stopped. The timing matters in summer.
For male partners specifically:
Switch to loose-fitting underwear or go without for the next two months. The difference in scrotal temperature between tight briefs and loose boxers is measurable and clinically relevant.
No hot tubs, no saunas, no prolonged hot baths for the next 74 days minimum. This is the single highest-impact change a male partner can make right now if there is a retrieval or insemination coming up in fall.
Move the laptop off the lap entirely. Desk only. Non-negotiable.
Limit cycling to under 30 minutes. Longer rides generate scrotal friction heat that compounds with ambient temperature.
Hydrate at the same level recommended above. Dehydration reduces seminal fluid volume and sperm motility.
For IVF patients specifically:
If you are preparing a lining for a fall transfer, July is not the month to let hydration and diet slide. The lining you build over the next six to eight weeks reflects the biological conditions happening now. The foods, the herbs, the sleep, the acupuncture sessions you attend in July show up in your September monitoring numbers.
If you are mid-stimulation cycle right now, stay cool during the retrieval preparation window. Avoid activities that significantly raise core body temperature in the two weeks before retrieval. This is not about restricting your life. It is about knowing that follicular temperature is sensitive and protecting it during the final stretch.
What we adjust in the clinic this time of year
Summer changes the acupuncture protocol and the herbal formulas for fertility patients in specific ways.
The summer specific acupuncture points
Points that clear heat from the liver, cool the blood, and nourish kidney yin become more prominent in summer treatment. SP10, LR2, KD3, REN 4, and ST36 in combination create a cooling, blood-nourishing protocol that directly addresses the yin depletion of summer. Moxibustion, which I use regularly for cold-womb patients in other seasons, is used far more selectively in summer and shifted to specific warming points rather than broad warming protocols.
The herbal formulas shift too
Summer protocols lean toward herbs that nourish yin and clear heat alongside the fertility-supporting framework: nu zhen zi (ligustrum), han lian cao (eclipta), mai men dong (ophiopogon), and bai shao (white peony) become more central. The goal is to support the fertility protocol while simultaneously protecting the yin resources that summer is depleting.
For patients who are not currently in treatment, summer is actually a good time to start, particularly if you have a fall IVF retrieval or transfer planned. Starting now captures the pre-retrieval 90-day window and allows the summer protocol to protect egg quality during the most vulnerable environmental period of the year.
The specific situation of Los Angeles
Living and trying to conceive in Los Angeles in summer comes with a particular set of environmental considerations beyond just the heat.
Air quality matters. Wildfire smoke and high-particulate air quality days, which Los Angeles sees regularly in summer, increase systemic oxidative stress. For fertility patients, oxidative stress is one of the primary mechanisms driving poor egg quality and high sperm DNA fragmentation. On high AQI days, reduce outdoor exercise, keep windows closed, and run an air purifier indoors if you have one.
The commute heat load is underestimated. Getting into a car that has been sitting in the sun and driving in stop-and-go traffic in the heat is a significant thermal stress. For male partners specifically, an overheated car interior on a daily commute adds to the cumulative scrotal heat exposure in a way that compounds with everything else.
The temptation to spend weekends at the beach or pool is completely understandable and there is no reason to avoid it. Keep it in context: a beach day is fine. A weekend of extended sun exposure, alcohol, and a hot tub round-off is a different picture for a couple doing an IVF cycle.
FAQ
I am in the middle of an IVF stimulation cycle right now. Is it too late to do anything about the summer heat?
No. The measures above still help during active stimulation. Staying hydrated, eating cooling foods, sleeping in a cool environment, and attending your weekly acupuncture sessions all support the stimulation response even mid-cycle. The most significant pre-retrieval preparation window is the 90 days before, but in-cycle support is still meaningful.
My partner had a semen analysis six months ago that looked fine. Do we still need to worry about summer heat?
A semen analysis from six months ago reflects the conditions of six months ago, not today. The 74-day sperm production cycle means sperm quality is dynamic and reflects current conditions. A normal analysis in January does not guarantee normal parameters in September after a summer of heat exposure and lifestyle factors. The precautions above are worth taking regardless of prior results, particularly if you have a retrieval planned in the next two to three months.
I am not doing IVF, just trying naturally. Does this still apply to me?
Fully. Cervical mucus quality, ovulation timing, luteal phase adequacy, and egg quality are all affected by the same summer heat mechanisms described above. The cooling diet, hydration, and temperature avoidance recommendations apply equally to natural conception patients. The most common shift I see in natural conception patients in summer is poorer cervical mucus at ovulation, which reduces the likelihood of sperm reaching the egg. Staying well hydrated and shifting to cooling foods makes a measurable difference in this specific parameter within two to three weeks.
Is this just a Chinese medicine concept or does Western medicine agree?
Both. The yin depletion framework is Chinese medicine. The direct effects of elevated ambient and scrotal temperature on sperm parameters, follicular fluid quality, and ovarian function are documented in peer-reviewed Western research. The 2024 Heliyon multi-center study of 33,234 men is one of the strongest pieces of evidence on the male fertility side. For egg quality, the mechanisms of heat-driven oxidative stress on follicular development are well established in the fertility medicine literature. The two frameworks describe the same phenomenon in different languages.
If you have a retrieval, a transfer, or a natural conception attempt planned for the next two to three months, the decisions you make in the next four weeks matter more than they might feel like they do in the middle of summer.
If you are in the Pasadena area and you want to talk through how to adjust your protocol for the summer window, come in. We can look at your specific situation and make sure the work you are doing right now is actually setting you up for what is coming in the fall.
You can book a new patient or existing patient appointment here or call us at 626-841-2991.
For more on how we approach the full IVF preparation protocol at Taproot, the IVF acupuncture page has the complete picture. And if sperm quality is part of your picture, the male fertility page covers what the 74-day window means for treatment timing.
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