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[Disclaimer: I am not a doctor or medical practitioner. Any medical information is strictly my opinion based on research and personal experience, and not to be taken as advice. Always seek the advice of a licensed physician for your medical needs. Read my full disclaimer here.]
The relationship between stress + infertility is confusing. Does stress cause infertility, or does infertility cause stress? Surely you know from experience that the latter is true — there have even been studies that reveal that the psychological impact of infertility is similar to that of cancer and HIV.
And then there’s the former question: Does stress cause infertility? Even scientists, doctors, + researchers can’t figure it out. And who cares, honestly. Because if you are reading this, you’re probably dealing with infertility, and are therefore stressed out by it. Who cares if you were stressed before — the reality is you’re stressed now.
(But for the record, I have a hard time believing stress causes infertility — I don’t have a lot of stress in my life in general, and I had zero stress about getting pregnant. As a matter of fact, I figured it would happen right away. Heck, I even anticipated being able to plan it! I thought I was even the type of person that would never deal with infertility — but that’s a different story. Now here I am, two years later.)
So the real question relevant to us now is: Will decreasing my current stress level (regardless of what caused this) help me get pregnant (in combination with other techniques)?
Research says…
Most likely, but in the interest of reporting facts and not my opinion, even the research on that is somewhat inconclusive. Two out of three (this study + this one) researchers who studied all of the clinical trials prior to 2016 say yes, eliminating stress can help improve your odds of conception (the other study concluded that the bias was too high and quality too low of any of the studies to draw any real conclusions). So, in effect, the studies have proven the answer to be a “yes” (but the quality of the studies is debatable).
What exactly has been proven to reduce stress + be effective at improving pregnancy rates?
Assuming that yes, reducing stress can help, what exactly can you do? (Because, let’s be real, the advice to “Just relax” kind of sucks.)
A Combination of Mind/Body Techniques
The Mind/Body Center for Infertility was established in Boston in 1987, and seems to be the most well-established, research-based, successful “fertility program” that focuses on reducing stress. The pregnancy rates of patients who participate in this program (usually while undergoing IVF simultaneously) are much higher than women who do not participate. In 2009, this study found that during a second IVF cycle, 52% of the women who did the program got pregnant, compared to only 20% in the other group.
What I like about the program is that it teaches different strategies, and then suggests you do the ones you like/make sense to you. In other words, if you hate yoga, don’t force it! There are other ways to reduce stress! (To see more about the program, check out this study or the program’s website.) Here are the things that they do in the program that you can do at home (assuming you don’t live in Boston + can’t join the program itself!).
Top 6 Ways to Reduce Infertility-Induced Stress
1. Stop patterns of negative thinking. Replace thoughts like, “This is all my fault,” with thoughts like, “My body doesn’t have to be perfect to get pregnant.” A great free resource to help you do that is The Fab Fertile Podcast — they have some great episodes like this one on positive thinking. Or, if you like a little more no-nonsense approach (and don’t mind the occasional f-bomb) try The Fertile Ground Podcast.
2. Yoga. I have been doing these free, five-minute fertility yoga videos every morning. Though I haven’t gotten pregnant yet, I do enjoy starting my morning with them. Yoga forces you to slow down.
3. Writing. Start a daily gratitude journal. This is easy, and, like everything on this list, one of the things the participants in the program do! (See my other favorite gratitude practices here!)
4. Practice mindfulness. That means paying attention to what you’re doing. That means being fully present. In other words, put your phone down + listen to people. Go for a walk and pay attention to your surroundings. When you eat dinner, eat slowly. Pay attention.
5. Meditation + Visualization. After reading about it on several other blogs, I tried Circle + Bloom’s Natural Cycle for Fertility Program, which has 15-minute guided meditations and visualizations for each day of the month. These FORCE you to slow down for 15 minutes a day…and because you have to pay for them, it holds you accountable to actually listen to them! (Note: I listened to them for a few cycles and then stopped…like I mentioned above, choose the things that you like! I liked the meditations okay…but ultimately preferred some of the other stress-reducing techniques.)
6. Prayer + Bible study. This really should be #1 on the list…but admittedly, this is not technically a part of the strategies from the official Mind/Body Program per se. But, prayer is my version of meditation. Download my free Infertility Bible Study here or check out my prayers for infertility (from the Psalms) here. And for more on infertility + prayer in general, check out my post here.
