Bedroom Stress Effects
Nervousness in the bedroom meaning "can I perform" can definitely impact conception, as well as other aspects of our health. The alarms, bells, whistles, and sticks turning blue, signaling that it's your time to make a baby as you are ovulating can be a fun game just so long. Then it gets to be a source of stress with low sperm counts for guys, erectile dysfunction, sleep loss for both, and finally failure of ovulation all together. 1. Timing is important in getting pregnant, but ovulation has been documented every day of the cycle, so timing may not always be the most important factor.
2. For men with ED just when called upon to have a baby the stress of performance can be so devastating on the sexuality of many couples to the point that artificial insemination of partner's sperm may be necessary to just avoid the performance topic all together!
3. All hormonal cycles from those of our immune system, to the kidney, to the blood pressure can be affected by stress. No way to start a healthy pregnancy. We know that stress produces a variety of hormones that wreak havoc on our endocrine system. These stress hormones can produce derangement in the menstrual cycle, so affect ovulation, and derangement in our blood sugar and metabolism, affecting our weight, throw off our biological clock and affect sleep, so we always thought that there must be a link between cortisol levels and conception.
4. Yoga, breathing, mindfulness, meditation, and emotional fitness helps couples conceive. In the late 1990s a research group in Australia looked at levels in epinephrine, norepinephrine and cortisol, and they really couldn't detect differences in those cycles that got pregnant, their study was published in Human Reproduction. But thinking differently one study looked at those having counseling vs those not and those having counseling had better infertility treatment success, so mindful ovulation worked for that small group! In a study published in Fertility and Sterility looking at couples in Michigan and Texas there again was no difference in the levels of cortisol hormones in the groups who did get pregnant vs the the couples who didn't get pregnant. There was a group of women however that was more likely to conceive if their biomarker alpha-amylase, measured in saliva, was the lowest. The researchers also found something a bit different about our biologic response to stress. Chronically stressed individuals won't think one day is different than another, but their body will produce stress molecules at a variable rate. And when those stress molecules were the lowest, then in fact there was physiological benefit for conception!
When trying for a baby, first come in to discuss. Lots of aspects of health can easily be remedied prior to pregnancy. Remember it's important to take your prenatal vitamins as well!