<h4 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="color: #87873a;"><span style="color: #808000;"><span class="drop_cap">T</span>here is a clear and direct link between the levels of stress and rates of infertility.  But this is just the beginning.  It is also documented that women experiencing infertility have as much stress as those undergoing life-threatening diseases such as cancer or heart-disease.</span></span></h4>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><br id="w592" />You may have heard countless stories of couples who give up on pregnancy and finally elect to adopt, and then miraculously get pregnant.  Or, they go on vacation to forget their tribulations with their infertility struggle, and then viola, they get pregnant while away.  Up until now, such anecdotal stories were just that - wives tales that had the effect of causing even more stress on infertile couples making them think the failure to conceive was their fault.  <br id="n0re0" /></p>

<h4><span style="color: #808000;">Recent studies conducted by leading researchers in the infertility field are impressive and starting to gain increased attention from the medical establishment: </span></h4>
<p style="text-align: justify; padding-left: 30px;">According to Dr. Alice Domar, whom <em>Vogue </em>calls the Fertility Goddess: "Although it takes six months to a year to receive an official diagnosis of infertility, many women begin to feel stressed and worried about their fertility shortly after they start trying to conceive.  The stress builds as conception fails to happen the second month, the third, the fourth, the sixth.  it grows as you start wondering if you'll ever get pregnant and skyrockets when you see doctors, undergo tests, endure invasive medical procedures, and still fail to get or remain pregnant. The stress builds and builds and, in my experience, hits its peak after two to three years of unsuccessful trying.  For many women infertility is the most upsetting experience of their lives, a tragedy that causes as much stress as does a life-threatening disease."</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><br id="l_q41" />In addition to the groundbreaking work that Dr. Domar has performed, Emory University's Dr. Sarah Berga recently published similar studies  proving the mind-body connection.  It starts fundamentally with the fact that the fertility "master of ceremonies" is the hypothalamus, a major nerve center in the brain that ALSO is the regulator and receptor of stress, emitting cortisol when needed to keep our bodies in balance.  <strong>Let us repeat this extraordinary fact:  a walnut-sized portion of our brain  - the hypothalamus -  handles BOTH stress and the functioning of our reproductive system, underscoring that every month there is a very delicate interplay of hormones leading to successful ovulation.</strong><br id="a9kj0" /><br id="a9kj1" /></p>

<h4 style="text-align: justify;">Both of these leading researchers have documented proof that show a clear and direct connection between the reduction of stress and depression and the ability to get pregnant.</h4>
<p style="text-align: justify;">As outlined in the article entitled <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/04/health/04conv.html">"A Low-Tech Approach to Fertility:  Just Relax"</a> published by <em>The New York Times</em>, Dr. Berga's studies are summarized here:</p>

<ul>
	<li>A cascade of events, beginning with stress, leads to reduced levels of two hormones crucial for ovulation.</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
	<li>In a study of 16 women reported in 2003 journal of Fertility and Sterility, Dr. Berga showed that ovulation was restored in 7 of 8 women who underwent cognitive behavioral therapy, compared with 2 of 8 who did not get therapy.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
	<li>The research she had done along with her published studies, "small but scrupulous, are starting to convince her critics."</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
	<li>In 2006, in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology &amp; Metabolism, she reported that women who did not ovulate had excessive levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, in the brain fluid.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><br id="f_my" />Other studies and data points include the following:<br id="o.:_1" /></p>

<ul style="text-align: justify;">
	<li>Recent studies conducted at Harvard Medical School on 184 women going through relaxation training for infertility:  55% had a viable pregnancy within one year, compared to only 20% of the control group achieving a viable pregnancy;</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
	<li>In a study with women undergoing donor sperm insemination, those with higher levels of anxiety prior to undergoing inseminations took significantly longer to conceive (Demyttenaere, Nijs, Steeno and Koninckx, 1988);</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
	<li>Women who were not stressed and/or depressed before starting IVF treatment had a conception rate twice as high as women who were stressed and/or depressed before treatment (Thiering, Beaurepaire, Jones &amp; Saunders, 1993);</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: justify;">
	<li>Research has shown that women undergoing treatment for infertility have a similar, and often higher, level of stress as women dealing with life-threatening illnesses such as cancer and heart disease, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.  In addition, they report that "infertile couples experience chronic stress each month, first hoping that they will conceive and then dealing with the disappointment if they do not.  When diagnosed with infertility, many couples may no longer feel in control of their bodies or their life plan.  Infertility can be a major crisis because of the important life goal of parenthood is threatened.</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Alice D. Domar, PhD is a pioneer in the application of mind/body medicine to women's health issues. She not only established the first <a href="http://www.domarcenter.com">Mind/Body Center for Women's Health</a>, but also conducts ongoing ground-breaking research in the field. Her research focuses on the relationship between stress and different women's health conditions, and creating innovative programs to help women decrease physical and psychological symptoms.  Here is a video of Dr. Domar explaining stress and infertility:
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