Does stress have an effect on your fertility? Is infertility causing you stress?
We live in a fast-paced world, and being a woman today has many blessings, one of them being a professional life. But are we constantly trying to hurry to meet all of our commitments?
What Dr. Allen Morgan and Dr. Douglas Rabin (reproductive medicine physicians) found is “what is not widely known is that stress also has a detrimental impact on fertility. Women who are constantly under stress produce prolactin, cortisol, and other hormones, which can interfere with or even block regular ovulation.” Rabin also notes something many know, that infertility is also most certainly a cause of stress.
The types of stress they are talking about ranges from traumatic to less cataclysmic but still upsetting situations, such as an ongoing conflict at work. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) defines stress as, “the body’s response to something that it feels is threatening or harmful.”
So, if you are trying to get pregnant, reducing your stress should be a focus of yours. How can this be achieved? Well first it needs to be a priority. Book some quiet time in your calendar for yourself. During your “quite time” you could:
- Go for a walk
- Take a bubble bath (my favorite)
- Cuddle up with a good book
- Get a professional massage or reflexology
- Drink some relaxing herbal tea, such as chamomile, kava kava, or peppermint
- Practice meditation
- Go to therapy
- See an Neuro-Linguistic Programming or NLP coach
‘In a study of women who were not ovulating, one group received cognitive behavior therapy and the other group was just observed. 80% of the women who received cognitive behavior therapy started to ovulate again, as opposed to only 25% from the randomized observation group.’ ~ European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology
Relaxing takes practice. I see thousands of clients as a massage therapist and every one of my clients had to learn to relax. Make it a part of your day every day to take a moment for yourself and relax.
- European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology. “Behavioural Therapy Can Restore Ovulation In Infertile Women.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 21 June 2006. . Retrieved from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/06/060621084306.htm
- Adams, M. (June 15, 2005). Researchers find stress can have negative impact on fertility. Retrieved from https://www.naturalnews.com/008562_chronic_stress_fertility.html
- Stress. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.asrm.org/topics/topics-index/stress/
