There are so many things that can affect your fertility that it’s easy to lose count. Some are more important than others. Things like diet and exercise can affect your fertility much more than you realize, for example. There are other things that don’t affect your fertility quite as much, but that you should probably take a look at if you’re serious about making that baby.

One of the things you need to consider is your stress level. Stress can interfere with your fertility in a couple of ways. It can affect your hormone production, which could interfere with ovulation. It’s not particularly likely, and it’s not especially likely that stress alone would cause a long-term fertility problem, but it’s possible that it could interfere on occasion.

Stress can also interfere with fertility in the whole baby-making process. Stress can make sex less enjoyable, and can keep you from wanting to have sex in order to get pregnant. While this is easy enough to overcome and take one for the team, it’s not especially fun either.

While you probably already know many stress reduction techniques, it’s always the basics that work best. Here are some of the best things you can do to reduce your stress level when you’re trying to conceive:

• Exercise. Getting enough exercise is key to being able to manage your stress. When you exercise, your body produces serotonin. Serotonin is a natural stress reliever. In addition, exercising regularly keeps you in shape, which makes your body more able to handle periods of stress.
• Relaxation. Sometimes, you just need to wind down. Some folks do so with meditation, for example, while others would just rather curl up on the couch with a good book. Either one is a good way to de-stress.
• Back off on the caffeine. Caffeine is a stimulant, and can really intensify feelings of stress. No one is suggesting for a minute that you can’t get pregnant and still enjoy your morning cup of coffee. However, cutting back from three cups to one might help your overall stress levels.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 30th, 2010 and is filed under Fertility.