Stress Reduction Tips
According to a recent study, more than one third of women trying to get pregnant in the US believe stress is the reason they are not yet pregnant.1 While there are other reasons for not getting pregnant, stress can reduce your chances of conceiving if it reduces your desire to make love on your most fertile days. It can also change your menstrual cycle from month to month, making it harder for you to know when you are ovulating. Trying to get pregnant should be a truly joyful time for you and your partner, so try to relax and enjoy it. Here are some ways to help reduce your stress level right now:
Let your friends or family know if they are contributing to your anxiety over the process of trying to conceive. Most likely they mean well, and don’t realize how their questions or comments about your efforts to get pregnant may affect you.
- Talk to your partner about how you are feeling and listen to his concerns. Try to work together to reduce the stress that might be impacting your relationship.
- Give yourself time to be interested in other things. Making time to read a novel, start a new hobby, or join an exercise class can help free your mind and relieve some of the anxiety that comes with planning a pregnancy.
- Get some rest! Even if your schedule is packed, setting aside one or two nights a week to go to bed early may help you face the rest of the week with deeper emotional reserves.
- Consider learning breathing exercises to relax or taking up meditation. Ten or fifteen minutes of meditation in the morning can start your day off right, and you can do breathing exercises throughout the day to help take the edge off stressful situations.