Become a relaxation maven!
Are you stressed? Do you think this stress is negatively impacting your ability to get pregnant? In our Yoga for Fertility class we ask this question early on and there's an almost unanimous show of hands. Interestingly, there is no direct clinical link shown between stress and the ability to conceive, but there is evidence that points to a connection between stress and fertility.
Fact #1: Stress has an immediate, chemical effect on endocrine function through its major mover, the “fight-or-flight” hormone cortisol.
Fact #2: Stress has a profound, negative impact on other areas of our life that are important to reproductive function such as sleep, eating habits, alcohol and cigarette use, sex drive and depression.
But what is stress and how does it wreck such havoc in our lives? Basically, it is an evolutionary adaptation to the dangers humans faced long ago when we survived as hunters and gatherers. The nature of this existence was tenuous and it was inevitable that at some point in life one of our ancestors would stumble into a life-threatening situation.
Imagine, if you will, Myrtle's great-great-grandma-cavewoman out gathering gooseberries and looking up to find herself face to face with a big, hungry brown bear. In this primitive time, she would have one of two choices if she wanted to survive: fight or run. To muster the enormous physical effort to fight or flee from a giant bear, her body would need to do a lot of things. It would want to increase blood flow to the muscles so that grandma could beat the bear with a stick or climb a tree to safety. Her heart would need to pump a lot more blood and her breathing would have to increase to meet the metabolic needs of battle or flight.
This is the job of the hormone cortisol. In moments of perceived danger, the hypothalamus signals the adrenal glands to release the hormone cortisol. The result is immediate:
· Increased blood flow to muscles
· Decrease blood flow to internal organs
· Increase in heart and respiratory rate
With these powerful effects, our cavewoman is able to kill or escape the bear. Or perhaps she just gets eaten. In any case – escape, victory or death – there is resolution and cortisol levels return back to normal.
This is a very different situation from the stress response of the modern day. Nowadays our “big brown bear” is our job, our commute, our families, our fertility, etc. Our stressors have cell phones and email to find us and hunt us down. The result is that cortisol levels in the body remain elevated and this can have severe consequences for fertility. Cortisol down-regulates body functions associated with rest and digestion, including reproductive function. The increased blood flow to the musculature associated with the stress response comes at the expense of uterus and ovaries. In essence, a world where we cannot unplug from stress is itself hostile to fertility.
With training we can become aware of the symptoms of stress in our physical body. Tight muscles, shallow and quick breathing, poor digestion and poor sleep are some of these symptoms.
The tools above will help you to detect and manage your stress. The CDs are our (oops, we mean Myrtle's) personal faves. Some are infertility specific, other draw from deeper yogic practices like yoga nidra. In addition, there are some nice tchatchke to add to the ambiance.