How to avoid the Stress that hinders your chances of getting pregnant

Fertility and Stress: Research

Did you get the most confusing answers to this common question?  

Several studies show the effects of stress on fertility, however, there isn’t a solid yes, or a no in these studies. So, does stress affect affect fertility? Please, don’t get overwhelmed by some of the following studies and make sure you get to the end of this video, where I share how to avoid stress that does hinder your chances of getting pregnant. 

I attended a seminar in 2012 where a Professor shared her recent studies and the evidence that stress doesn’t affect our ability to reproduce! You can imagine how the room full of couples, suddenly went silent! 

She shared, that women clearly do continue to conceive in harsh conditions of poverty or malnutrition. She advised that it is about what we do, drinking, the smoking and it is our social position, age and lifestyle that are also associated with our reproductive system.

Next, we also know that cortisol, which is a stress hormone, is also a sex hormone that affects sperm count in men and ovulation and menstrual cycle in women. Another study shows, that social stress and nutritional stress experienced together can create infertility or in other words (hinder conception). 

The overall general knowledge is that sometimes when we are trying to eliminate the stress (whatever it may be), the thing that we do to achieve that may act as a stressor. So, when you are already stressed, the next thing that comes along that is supposed to relieve stress, actually acts as a stressor.

One study shows (2015) that the effects of chronic stress on fertility persist long after the stress is gone. This is because a hormone that suppresses fertility, GnIH, remains high even after stress hormone levels return to normal. 

Given scientific research, we can only assume the things we should be doing (or not doing), but at the same time, it leaves us wondering why so many, aren’t affected by stress at all. Across the world we see couples conceiving without any conscious effort whatsoever and as research shows in poor conditions. 

Fertility and Stress: Personal and Professional Experience

Here is my personal and professional experience. For everyone, setbacks and difficulties are unavoidable parts of our lives. It is impossible to live a completely stress-free life, especially when you’re trying to have a baby and failure to conceive makes you emotionally involved. Of course, we take it as a personal setback. It is personal. Your whole life is affected by it. Your confidence and the way you think about yourself changes.

We can neither remove losses, misfortunes, or unfairness. We can improve our lives by perhaps changing our jobs or moving our home, or in case of fertility we can take supplements, change our diets and even try relaxing more, but the stressors remain within us wherever we go. Even when we deal with what causes us to become stressed, there always will be other potential stressors to look out for! While trying to get pregnant, the stressors are there constantly. It’s the pressure, it’s the questions, it’s the losses, it’s failing over and over again and then having to grieve and getting the strength back to try all over again. 

To manage the stress that affects your fertility is managing how you feel inside, it is about looking after yourself, being kind to yourself and learning about how your thoughts affect your emotions and how these emotions affect your body. Stress isn’t something that is out there, it is what we make of things that occur in our lives that cause us to be stressed. We can call it an imbalance that occurs within us that we can change if we consciously choose to. 

No matter what goes on around you, how old you are, or your diagnosis, it is about how you feel about it, that affects your fertility. You’re not to blame for anything, you’re not causing anything, but you can take responsibility for the changes you make. 

We all experience the world around us differently. We never invalidate how we feel or shame ourselves and we always approach ourselves with compassion. If we did blame ourselves or invalidate our state, we’d be creating more stress that’s making us feel even worse.

In my personal and professional experience, I found, that stress relative to conception affects our fertility, but not necessarily the stress that you may be experiencing in your life that’s not connected to fertility.

For example, social stress affects your fertility only if you are telling yourself that you’re becoming too old to have a child, or putting pressure on yourself due to some social expectation. 

Or, if you feel overwhelmed because you’ve not been successful at getting pregnant, you are more likely to be concerned that you may not be able to get pregnant in the future, which is to do with how you personally feel about it. It’s not that it isn’t obvious and expected that we worry, but if we get caught up in this fear and concern, we are more likely to create more stress within our body, which further hinders our chances. 

It is your personal, most inner experience about your ability to get pregnant, that affects your body and therefore your fertility the most. It is the thoughts that you carry with you and the feelings that directly influence your body and its ability to conceive that you need to focus on. Many factors can cause the inability to conceive, but you mustn’t fall into a trap of self-blame or become negatively influenced by society. Instead, learn how to influence your fertility and encourage your body to create a new life by becoming conscious of the power that you have within you.

If you would a step-by-step approach, you can learn more about it in my free E-Book: https://martinapangrazzi.co.uk/teach-your-body-how-to-get-pregnant/

Mind Quietening Audio here: https://martinapangrazzi.co.uk/meditation-to-switch-off-the-mind-free/

If you would like to watch the video and find other useful resources you can watch it here: https://youtu.be/EwxennW_T7w

Love and Kindness

Martina