If you are trying to have a baby, a good night's sleep is more important than ever. A new research report appearing in April 2015 issue of The FASEB Journal shows that the womb has its own "body clock" that needs to synchronize with the mother's body clock to ensure optimal conditions for fetal growth and development. The inability of a mother's body clock to synchronize with the womb's clock may be at least part of the reason why some women have difficulty carrying a pregnancy to full term. Specifically, the failed synchronization switches off body clock genes in cells lining the womb, which in turn, may jeopardize the pregnancy. This information may help researchers and fertility experts develop strategies to optimize the fetal environment to help more women have children. "Infertility affects one in six couples across the world. Miscarriage is the most common complication of pregnancy," said Jan Brosens, M.D., a researcher involved in the work from the Division of Translational and Systems Medicine and Reproductive Health at Warwick Medical School at the University of Warwick in Coventry, UK. "Approximately one in seven clinical pregnancies result in miscarriage, mostly prior to 12 weeks of pregnancy. It is estimated that five percent of women experience two clinical miscarriages and approximately one percent have three or more losses. From a medical perspective, recurrent miscarriages and implantation failure have remained frustratingly devoid of effective therapeutic strategies." To make the current discovery, Dr. Brosens and colleagues, obtained womb biopsies from 70 women who have experienced recurrent pregnancy loss. The cells from these biopsies were purified and then treated in such a way as to simulate a pregnancy.Login Or Register To Read Full Story