Dr. Gabor Mate - On How Stress effects Infertility

This video podcast consists of seven parts.

Click on the links to play each section of the podcast.

Medical science has long debated the correlation between emotions and infertility. New studies, however, are suggesting that stress may be an important factor in a woman's chances of conceiving. For the more than one in six couples unable to conceive (with numbers climbing as more women start their families later) infertility can be a major life crisis. In one recent study women suffering from infertility were shown to have depression and anxiety levels equivalent to women with cancer or heart disease.

According to Dr. Mate, "Stress has a significant impact on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, which can interfere with ovulation and implantation of the egg."

Studies have shown that women with a history of depression are twice as likely to suffer from the infertility and that distressed women are less responsive to treatment. A study done at the University of California, San Diego in 2001, found that fertility procedures like In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) were 93 percent less effective in women with the highest levels of stress than in those with the least emotional distress.

"Often," says Mate, "High levels of anxiety are not simply a reaction to current life events but the result of hidden stress based on emotional patterns that may have originated in child hood. This can result in chronically elevated levels of hormones like cortisol that have an adverse effect on the reproductive system. The good news is that by gaining insight into these patterns women can learn to develop more healthy coping strategies."

Hear Dr. Gabor Mate, bestselling author of When the Body Says No, as he reveals new scientific information on the connection between emotions, reproductive health and fertility in this podcast taped March 9, 2007 in his public lecture, Stress & Infertility, sponsored by UBC Centre for Reproductive Health and Acubalance Wellness Centre.