Tuesday, 10 August 2010

Stress Prevents Pregnancy

According to study author Germaine Buck Louis, Ph.D., M.S., director of the NICHD’s Division of Epidemiology, Statistics, and Prevention Research, stress can be a self-perpetuating cycle as women trying to conceive become more concerned with each cycle that they might not be able to have a baby.

Interestingly, short-term stress may be more dangerous than long-term stress. Cortisol levels in the women who had difficulty conceiving were not any higher than the other women. Alpha-amylase is a marker of recent stress, while high cortisol is indicative of long term stress. This leads to hope that the stressors affecting fertility may be controlled, giving women hope that they might be able to relax long enough to increase their chances of getting pregnant.

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