7 ways a mind body fertility practice can double your chances of conceiving

A Harvard study once showed that women who undertook a Mind Body Program had a 52% chance of conceiving over a 20% chance in the control group - the women who undertook a mind body program had more than DOUBLE the chance of conceiving and took their chances of conceiving from a 1 in 5 rate to a 1 in 2 rate.

Here's a little excerpt of the study and it's reference:

Domar et al (2011) Impact of a group mind/body intervention on pregnancy rates in IVF patients, Fertility and Sterility

The negative effect of stress in reproductive health is generally accepted as occurring through increased hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity. The distress-conception relationship is complicated. Numerous studies have shown that distress is associated with lower IVF success rates.

In this study, women who were about to begin their first IVF cycle underwent a 10 week mind body program or a control group and were monitored over two IVF cycles. Pregnancy rates for cycle two were 52% for the mind body group and only 20% for the control group.

How exactly does a Mind Body Program help improve chances of conception - that's what we're breaking down in today's episode:into 7 ways a Mind Body Program can help you conceive your baby

BUT... there's one thing I want to share with you first and that's the added benefit of a Mind Body Program: it isn't just a tool to help you conceive - it's a tool to help you FEEL BETTER - to manage your stress levels and reclaim your happiness - (something that I can't say is true for fertility clinics). But.... when combined with help from your Fertility Specialist can be the game changer and secret weapon to optimizing IUI and IVF success rates.

What is a Mind Body Program?

A mind body practice focuses on the interactions between the brain, body, mind and behaviour. They're there to help you understand the inter-connectedness of your body and manage your response to stressors, particularly emotional stressors in your life so that you can then influence how your body is responding physiologically. This may involve using physical movement and actions or mind techniques to bring bodies back into a relaxed or parasympathetic state.

So how exactly does a Mind Body Program improve your fertility?

•It balances your hormones more optimally.The majority of our hormones are created or flow down from our Hypothalamus (and then often from our pituitary gland) in response to our nervous system and whether our sympathetic or parasympathetic nervous system is activated. Think of this like the control centre of your brain that is sending various signals around your body. The trouble is that when our sympathetic nervous system is activated, it isn't prioritizing or sending hormones to our reproductive organs and when our bodies are prioritising cortisol production - it does this at the expense of our other hormones. If our bodies have a choice between cortisol or something else - they always choose cortisol. So... when we can improve that process - we can more optimally balance our hormone production.

•They help you make better decisionsWhen our bodies are existing too much in our sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) they get stuck in our limbic system - the emotional centre of our brain, and our Pre-Frontal Cortex shuts down - our Pre-frontal cortex is the part of our body that is responsible for decision making, problem solving, rational thinking and impulse control.... When we can bring ourselves back into that area, we are more readily able to assess and make decisions based on our best interests.

•They reduce self sabotaging behavioursWhen you are existing in an overly stressed state - it can impact your self confi...