Does Stress Hamper Fertility?

CTV News reports that a mew study suggests that women are more likely to suffer from infertility when faced with high levels of stress.

Researchers from Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center looked at 501 healthy U.S. women between the ages of 18 and 40 trying to conceive:

[the researchers] tested the women’s saliva and recorded their levels of cortisol, a hormone that’s a well-known indicator of stress. They also measured their levels of alpha-amylase, a digestive enzyme also linked to stress.

The women did one saliva test when they enrolled in the study and another after the start of their first menstrual cycle.

The researchers found that cortisol levels were not linked to the women’s likelihood of pregnancy. But women with the highest levels of alpha-amylase were 29 per cent less likely to get pregnant each month compared to women with low levels of this protein enzyme.

Dr. Courtney Denning-Johnson Lynch, director of reproductive epidemiology at the medical centre said:

For the first time, we’ve shown that this effect is potentially clinically meaningful, as it’s associated with a greater than two-fold increased risk of infertility among these women.

Click here to view the full report.