List date(s) this work was published or aired.
July/August 2011
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
Diagnosed with a condition that raised her odds of infertility, writer Kristina Grish was trying every possible treatment in order to conceive a child with her husband. One year into her baby-making efforts, Grish’s specialists suggested that she cut back on how much she exercises. “When did a good workout become a bad idea?” she wondered. More important: Why hadn’t her docs mentioned that exercise might be affecting her fertility earlier? Grish investigated and learned that research upon which to base fitness advice for women trying to conceive is sparse and often contradictory. Because of that, women’s-health organizations don’t provide doctors with any specific rules on exercise frequency or intensity for these women. In turn, most ob-gyns don’t dole out fitness advice. Grish sought out several fertility specialists who do advise their patients on exercise in order to provide FITNESS readers with much needed specific recommendations about what and how much physical activity is safe to do–and can even increase a woman’s odds of getting pregnant. The resulting article is an interesting and informative exploration of a subject that has received little media attention, with a strong news-you-can-use angle.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
Grish researched the fitness-related guidelines from major women’s health organizations as well as the latest scientific studies, citing articles that appeared in the journals Obstetrics & Gynecology and Human Reproduction. No FOI or public records act requests were required.
Explain types of human sources used.
Grish interviewed and quoted seven leading women’s health and fertility experts including Robert Brzyski, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the ethics committee of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) and William Schoolcraft, M.D., founder and medical director of the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine in Denver. Through a posting on FITNESS magazine’s Facebook page, we also reached out to women who had experienced infertility and had changed their exercise routines in hopes of getting pregnant. We interviewed several women and included two of their anecdotes in the story.
Results:
The article caught the attention of TV producers and a segment about it ran on Better, a nationally syndicated lifestyle TV show produced by a division of Meredith corporation (the parent company of FITNESS). In addition, the magazine received an enthusiastic response about the article. Readers, who had stories similar to Grish’s, thanked us for informing women about this important issue. Here is some of what they said: “I always felt that so many of these fertility articles address the issue of women not working out enough… Thank you for printing this article to let active women know they are not alone and that it is okay to let those fitness reins slack a little because the bundle of amazing joy that results is worth the extra pounds of softness!” -Brooke Halperin “There is an astonishing lack of information out there for women like myself who are having trouble conceiving and it’s so stressful to constantly be worried about what might or might not affect your odds… With so many millions of women out there dealing with infertility it really feels good when the topic is actually acknowledged in a national magazine. Hopefully this will lead to more women being comfortable speaking openly about it and for society to be a little more sensitive to the issue.” -J. Parkman
Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
FITNESS has not run any corrections, nor has anyone challenged the accuracy of the story.
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
Since there are few studies on this issue and no standard guidelines concerning exercise for women who are trying to conceive, doctors give a range of advice that’s often conflicting. (That is the key reason we needed to cover this topic for our readers!) You’ll need to talk to many experts to get a broad understanding of the topic in order to be able to accurately summarize the takeaway advice that readers can use.