Avoid Stress....Get Pregnant

Can stress affect your fertility? Have you ever asked yourself this question? well, while researchers have not yet found a solid link between stress and conception, we have heard many tales about couples undergoing assisted conception treatment being advised to forget about it and live normal in order to get pregnant.

Is it true? it has been observed that over stressed women have less chances to conceive, but the underlying factor is not yet discovered, some studies show a link between stress and conception, claiming that stress reduces ovulation and fertilization by 20%, other studies show that stress does not affect the phenomenon of conception, the conclusion is yet to be confirmed by researchers.

On a separate note, it has been proven that stress can affect your life in many ways, and might lead you to new unhealthy habits like smoking, drinking, bad eating habits, lonely life, physical violence, too much sleep, unproductive at work, lack of motivation...etc, not to mention its effect on your couple life; reducing stress can be helpful and it allows you to lead a normal and healthy life, through a personal experience I have found many ways to reduce stress in my life:

1- Exercise: as a working mother I have many responsibilities, work, home, child, husband..., it was not easy for me to manage my life at the beginning, my husband works long hours, mom is far, and no helper at home, I only figured it out recently when I started jogging in the morning, I drop my son to school in the morning and I go jogging, it is hard to describe the feeling of satisfaction that I have after that, I feel more productive at work, I have a better self image, my relationship with my husband is much better. No matter how tight your schedule is, you can always find an hour to exercise.

2- Do something you are passionate about: it could be cooking, dancing, music learning, language learning, anything that adds value to your life.

3- Connect: by socializing, you listen to other people's stories and believe me, sometimes you find that your problems are tiny compared to others. I believe that every connection brings a value to my life, if it was a good connection I'll learn from it, and if it was a bad connection I'll learn from it.

4- Think and talk positive: your mind is your drive, when you look at the positive side of each situation, you can find peace of mind, I learned to do my best and leave the rest for luck, if it didn't happen the way I want to, there must be a good reason behind that, and it is only up to the future to show the reason. 

Someone once told me: "you draw a path, and the fate draws a path, life is a battle between which path you'll follow".

Learn to talk positive, when you keep mentioning your problems it will become part of your life, you will never be able to forget about it, try to put them behind for a while and when your brain is at full power you will be able to find a solution.

5- Avoid whatever causes you stress: People, situations, try to avoid everything that cause stress, and learn how to deal with it, you can consult a therapist who might help in stress management.

6- Think and act as a woman: women are survivors by nature, I am not being racist, but it is a fact, woman gets pregnant, delivers, take the house and children responsibilities.....you ARE A WOMAN, whatever your problem was, you can ALWAYS find a solution, just don't surrender, your motivation and drive are key to your success. Women are no different then men, they are only better in handling the toughest situations.

To me the above had an impact on my life, I wish it could help you too overcome your stress and eventually lead to healthy lifestyle.

Best regards from Beirut,

Rima