Stress is one of the most common, yet highly misunderstood terms that we use in our everyday life. Stress is our body’s way of responding to any kind of demand or stressors. Stressors are internal or external factors affecting the individual.
There is no conclusive evidence that says that stress causes infertility. There is no direct cause and effect relationship between stress and infertility. But if stress is left untreated, it can add to the difficulties of infertile couples.
Yes, a lot of studies suggest that the diagnosis of infertility does lead to stress, anxiety and depression in a lot of couples. Research has shown that infertile couples are more stressed when compared with a matched sample of fertile couples. Some infertile couples describe the experience of infertility to be as stressful as the experience of divorce or the death of a loved one.
Consider the situation. When a couple is unable to conceive, facing family and societal pressures to have a baby, the pressures sometimes could be silent ones, the couple faces self-doubt, and society frequently fails to realize how much grief childlessness can carry. Being infertile is not a dangerous medical condition, but it is a struggle to build a family, to fulfill a dream and to be happy. Such circumstances can be stressful for the couple experiencing infertility.
Yes, it can. There is evidence from some studies that suggest that pre-existing stress can have detrimental effects on pregnancy outcomes from infertility treatment.
Factors that contribute to stress in current times include:
External Factors:
Internal Factors:
Yes. Lifestyle factors do have a negative effect on infertility and its subsequent treatment. These factors could be:
Lack of physical activity- No exercise, sport etc.
No, it does not. However,
Consider the situation. You are a couple with both you and your spouse working full time. You wake up in the morning, finish daily chores and rush to work. Both husband and wife have to face traffic woes, slog at the workplace, come back home facing even worse traffic, cook dinner once back home, eat, watch some television, and then go off to sleep after being dead tired. Is there time or energy left for sex??
