“Infertility Causes Infertility.”

There is a saying: “infertility causes infertility.”

But how can this be?

Let’s break it down:
The sympathetic nervous system is set up to ready the body in case of a threat. When stress is sensed, your bod releases hormones that cause a “fight or flight” response. This reaction includes, most relevantly,  shuttling blood away from the reproductive organs and into the muscles needed for immediate action (like your extremities and your brain.)

Now, undoubtedly, women going through infertility have a truck load of anxiety and stress.  Interpreting the stress as a threat, the body goes into a kind of chronic state of fight or flight. Combine lower blood flow to the reproductive organs with a biological instinct to not reproduce during times of strain, and you’ve got a perfect storm. Et voi-la: Infertility begets infertility.

So how do you get out of this vortex?
A mentor of mine once said, “as long as patients can calm their body down, their mind will follow.”
1. Avoid people who may be triggering.
This may include pregnant friends and judgmental family members.
Interact only with those friends who know how to hold space, and not with those who try to fill it.

2. Belly breathe