If you want to ensure that your baby gets the best possible start, living healthy should be one of your biggest priorities. Those nine months are crucial for your child’s bright future.

Here are Dr. Joseph Mercola’s simplest and most practical healthy pregnancy tips gathered from over three decades of experience in health care:

• Get healthy daily doses of omega-3 fats – Dr. Mercola believes that getting adequate levels of omega-3 fats are the single most important dietary influence on prenatal health. Omega-3 and its derivative, DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), are critical to a child’s development. Deficiency of this essential fat can cause unexplained emotional, learning, and immune system disorders, and increases the risk of a child being born prematurely. Omega-3s also help mothers deal with depression during pregnancy.
• Optimize your vitamin D levels – Vitamin D has been shown to influence over 2,000 genes in your body. It is believed that about 85 percent of Americans are deficient of this important nutrient, and that getting enough vitamin D through healthy sun exposure can decrease your cancer risk by 50 percent.
• Get regular exercise – Unless your doctor has told you otherwise, exercise should be a part of your health routine while you’re pregnant. Studies show that exercise decreases the possibility of premature birth. Women who exercised at the same rate throughout their pregnancies were shown to have larger placentas than their more sedentary peers. The volume of the placenta is an indicator of its ability to transport oxygen and nutrients to your baby.
• Eat for vitality and health – “Eating for two” during pregnancy is a very misleading statement because obesity can wreak havoc on your health, cause complications throughout your pregnancy and affect your unborn child, Dr. Mercola warns. It’s important to your health and to your baby’s to keep your weight within reasonable parameters. Eat a well-balanced diet consisting of adequate protein, healthy fats, fruits and vegetables (preferably fresh and organic). Green leafy vegetables are rich in folic acid, which helps reduce the chance of your child being born with brain and spinal cord defects. Raw eggs are another important food for pregnancy because they are a rich source of protein, carotenoids and choline.
• Avoid vaccinations – You should avoid all vaccinations while you are pregnant, as well as having your baby get any shots after birth. Vaccines contain mercury, which, even in low concentrations, has been associated with impaired energy production, impaired brain cell function and increased free radical production in the brain.
• Remove your mercury amalgams – It would be best to remove your mercury amalgam “silver” fillings BEFORE you become pregnant, but if you’re already pregnant, it is probably best not to remove your fillings until after you deliver.
• Minimize your exposure to chemicals inside and outside your home – Studies show that pesticide exposure increases the risk of autism, reproductive abnormalities, childhood learning disabilities and miscarriages. Common household chemicals like aerosol, bleach, carpet cleaner, etc., can also harm you and your baby. Use only the safest cosmetics because over time, toxins in your personal care products can affect you and your child’s nervous and reproductive systems, and cause other health issues so it’s best to look for natural and organic products.
• Avoid exposure to phthalates and BPA – These two chemicals have been linked to birth defects, shortened pregnancy and for being “gender-benders” – substances which cause male humans and male animals to take on female characteristics. Phthalates are added to many products, including food containers, hair spray, insect repellent, moisturizers and nail polish while BPA is also used in food containers, baby bottles and soda can linings.
• Treat severe gum disease – Numerous studies reveal that pregnant women who suffer from gum disease are more likely to have premature birth. Animal studies also shown that periodontal infections impair fetal growth.
• Get enough sleep – Along with a healthy diet and regular exercise, sleep also plays an important role in your overall health. If you lack sleep, your baby’s wellbeing will also suffer.

Americans tend to eat under a state of stress and anxiety, says Marc David, director of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating. When you are eating under the physiological stress response, you could be eating the healthiest food but you won’t necessarily be digesting, assimilating and burning the calories from that food.

When under the physiological stress response, your heart rate goes up and your blood pressure rises. Blood is shunted away from your midsection and goes to your arms, legs, and head. Your digestion also completely shuts down.

In relation to digestion, stress causes:

• cortisol and insulin levels to rise
• as much as four times less blood flow to your digestive system, leading to decreased metabolism
• decreased flow of oxygen and decreased enzyme production (up to 20,000-fold) to your gut
• decreased nutrient absorption
• water soluble vitamins, macrominerals, microminerals and calcium to be excreted and wasted
• a spike in your cholesterol and triglyceride levels
• an increased risk of food sensitivity or heartburn
• decreased gut flora population

Corisol and insulin are two hormones that tend to track each other. When your cortisol levels consistently rise under a chronic low-level stress response, you’ll likely have problems losing weight and building muscle.

The worse part is, with rising cortisol, you’ll tend to gain weight around your midsection. Body fat, particlularly visceral fat (fat around your midsection that gathers around your internal organs), increases your risk of diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

Eating under stress puts your body in the opposite state of where it needs to be so it can digest food, assimilate nutrients and burn calories. In short, eating under stress is a recipe for weight gain!

So what can you do to avoid eating under stress?

Stress management is an important part of optimizing your overall health. Though it is not possible to completely eliminate stress, there are several ways that will help you minimize the stressors that seriously disrupt your digestion and other important bodily functions.

Here are some stress-busting strategies:

• Use the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT). Meridian tapping helps restore your mind and body’s balance by clearing emotional blockages from your system.
• Exercise is another effective and natural way of providing your body with relief from stress. Endorphins, your body’s “feel good” chemicals are released into your brain during exercise.
• Get proper sleep.
• Meditate.

However, the story that caught my attention in last month’s issue wasn’t about the usual stuff of people, animals or the environment. The article was entitled Our Vanishing Night and it discusses the problem of light pollution.

The first time I’ve heard of light pollution, I just shook my head because I was surprised to learn that light can also be a pollutant. Light pollution is the excess light generated by human activities that shines outward and upward into the night sky and is enough to obscure many stars and other heavenly bodies.

When man-made light spills into the natural world, some aspect of life like migration, reproduction and  feeding will be affected. Because light is very powerful biological force, it draws many animals to it like a magnet. For example, migratory birds can collide with tall buildings with bright lights. Songbirds sing during unnatural hours in the presence of artificial lighting. Sea turtles, which lay their eggs on dark beaches, have difficulty finding their nesting spots.

Many nocturnal mammals also look for food more cautiously due to light pollution because they’ve become easier targets for predators.

Light Pollution and your Health

We humans also need darkness. I learned through the article that darkness is important for our biological welfare because the regular oscillation of waking and sleep is a biological expression of the regular oscillation of light on Earth.

A group of cells in your brain located in the hypothalamus called the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN) controls your biological clock because the cells that form the SCN react to light and dark signals. Light travels through your eyes’ optic nerves to your SCN where it tells your body that it’s time to wake up. Light also signals your SCN to start other activities associated with being awake, like increasing your body temperature and producing hormones like cortisol.

When your eyes signal to your SCN that it’s dark outside, your body will begin to secrete melatonin, the hormone that induces sleep. How much melatonin you produce is related to the amount of bright sun exposure you have had the previous day. The less bright light, the lower the production of melatonin.

Aside from inducing sleep, there are many studies that show that melatonin also decreases your risk of cancer. So if your sleep is disrupted by light pollution, your melatonin levels will go down, increasing your risk of cancer.

At least one new study has suggested a correlation between higher rates of breast cancer in women and the brightness of their neighborhoods at nighttime. One of the first studies linking cancer to light showed that blind women have a 36 percent lower risk of developing breast cancer compared to women with sight. Because blind women do not respond to light, they maintain high melatonin levels at night regardless of how much light is available to them.

Fortunately, among the earth’s pollution problems, light pollution is perhaps the easiest to remedy because it is not persistent. Simple changes in lighting design and installation will greatly reduce the amount of light spilled into the atmosphere and also save energy.

I was surprised to read in the article that one of the first efforts made to control light pollution was started 50 years ago in Flagstaff, Arizona, which is home to the Lowell Observatory, a National Historic Landmark and one of the oldest observatories in the country. In fact, Flagstaff was declared as the first International Dark Sky City in 2001.

When Dark is Good for You

When I was very young, I used to sleep with the lights on because I was afraid that a monster might pop out from under my bed or barge through the door and windows. I was only able to sleep with the lights off when accompanied by someone (preferably an adult) in my room. Of course, I’ve outgrown that silly habit by time I was a teenager and I have been sleeping soundly in the dark ever since.

Sleeping in a pitch-black bedroom may be one of the best and easiest things you could do for your health. Even the dimmest glow of light from a source like your clock radio could be interfering with your sleep, and ultimately, your long term health and risk of developing cancer.

Get your room as dark as possible by:
• Installing blackout drapes
• Closing your bedroom door and covering the base to prevent light from seeping in
• Getting rid of your electric clock radio or at least covering it during bedtime
• Avoiding all kinds of night lights
• Keeping all the lights off at night (including when you get up for a bathroom break)

You’re bound to notice a major improvement in your sleep once you eliminate the sources of light pollution in your room. Sweet dreams!