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Smita Rana: Can Stress Affect Female Fertility?

Photo: DepositPhotos

Sep 14, 2026, 18:08

Smita Rana: Can Stress Affect Female Fertility?

Smita Rana, Embryologist at Cloudnine Group of Hospitals, shared on LinkedIn:

“Can Stress Affect Female Fertility?

Support the mind. Understand the biology.
Don’t blame yourself.

The Science Behind Stress and Fertility:

Several recent studies have found links between the women’s levels of day-to-day stress and lowered chances of pregnancy. For example, women whose saliva had high levels of alpha-amylase, an enzyme that marks stress, took 29% longer to get pregnant compared to those who had less.

‘Your body is smart; it knows that (periods of stress) aren’t good times to have a baby’

Also, stress hormones such as cortisol disrupt signaling between the brain and the ovaries, which can trip up ovulation.

Stress and fertility are connected – but not in the simplistic way we often hear.

Chronic or severe stress may influence the hypothalamic – pituitary – ovarian (HPO) axis, potentially affecting reproductive hormone signalling, ovulation, and menstrual regularity.

But an important distinction:
Stress is not a diagnosis of infertility, and IVF failure should never automatically be attributed to stress.

Fertility is multifactorial — involving age, ovarian reserve, oocyte and sperm factors, reproductive anatomy, embryo competence, endocrine factors, and many other variables.

Managing stress is valuable for overall wellbeing, but ‘just relax, and you’ll get pregnant’ is neither helpful nor scientifically fair.”

Read further.

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