(Wired) – The cultural obsession with wellness and optimization, which is currently driven and designed by male biohackers like Bryan Johnson and Peter Attia, has come for this murky preconception period, coined “the zero trimester” by sociologist Miranda Waggoner in her 2017 book by the same name. Women have started training for pregnancy “like it’s a marathon,” as influencer Kaylie Stewart announced to her 1 million TikTok followers last fall. After all, if you spend months planning a wedding, some influencers point out, why wouldn’t you do the same for a baby?

A growing group of influencers and holistic women’s health experts, doctors, life coaches, and nutritionists are posting content that speaks to the “Trying to Conceive” (TTC) demographic—including women who are struggling to conceive and those who haven’t started yet. The concept is simple: If you follow this wellness formula, you will set yourself up for the quickest conception, the easiest pregnancy, and the healthiest child. Pregnancy, these accounts argue, doesn’t have to be traumatic. You get to be in the driver’s seat. And what mom-to-be wouldn’t want that? (Read More)