Yoga, Stress, and Fertility

When I woke up this morning I was shocked at how incredibly tight my muscles felt. It was like I had turned into the Tin Man; my joints had clearly grown rusty. They were in desperate need of some oiling. Self care has not been a priority these last few days, and I was feeling the repercussions of my neglect. This time of year is so busy and there is so much to do. I immediately moved some things around on my schedule to make time for yoga practice, which got my wheels turning. The search for journal articles about the connection between yoga and fertility was on!

Most of what I found were personal opinions and testimonials, which are of great value but not exactly what I was looking for.  Studies about yoga and stress reduction came up so I decided if I couldn't find quality studies on yoga and fertility, I would change my search to stress and fertility.

Since yoga reduces stress maybe it affects fertility in that way, I thought to myself. So the search continued. Eventually, after endless keyword combinations (fecundity, stress, fertility, infertility, anxiety, conception, cortisol, believe me, I tried it all!) I found a couple of review articles (The Impact of Lifestyle Factors and Stress relief to augment fertility: the pressure mounts). The results have been mixed; some studies say stress has no effect others say it does. The way I see it, if there is even the slightest chance stress might put a damper on becoming pregnant why not keep stress to a minimum? For me that means journaling, fun physical activity, and reading.

How do you unwind?