Podcast EP 8
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[00:00:00] Have you ever been told, just stop stressing about it and maybe you'll see those two pink lines, or better yet, how about you and your partner? Just go on vacation and it will magically happen? Yes, sis. As much as those comments hurt, there is a tiny bit of truth to it. Hi everyone. I am fertility coach Sophie, and today we're gonna be diving into stress and fertility.
We're gonna talk about the impact. We're gonna talk about how that anxious feeling within your body could be holding you back, and we're gonna talk about ways to overcome it. So please stay tuned and keep listening. Let's dive in. Hi, I'm Sophie Byfield, and when I decided I was ready to be a mama, I thought it would be so easy.
Get off birth control, baby dance, like no one's watching, and poof, I was pregnant. But like many of you, that wasn't my story. After months of negative tests, endless [00:01:00] treatments and more supplements than you can count, I realized that getting pregnant isn't about fixing one piece of your fertility puzzle.
It's about bringing your whole body. Back into balance so it feels safe enough to conceive. And this is where we focus on what really matters. Healing your whole body so that you can see those two pink lines. Welcome to the Heel to Conceive podcast. All right, today we are talking about stress and fertility.
And stress can be the secret, silent thing that is holding you back, but it could also be the thing that gets you pregnant. Some people say to me, so I was so stressed out and that's when I conceived. I was going through so much in my life and that's what happened and for you, that's awesome. However, the majority of us, when we are stressed [00:02:00] out, it does play a role in holding us back from conceiving.
Let me let you in a little story. So when I was in the thick of my fertility journey, I was having a conversation with my grandma, and I'm telling you, my grandma had the best of intentions, but honestly it was like a knife to the heart when she said, if you just stuff stressing about it, you'll have a baby.
Oh, every part of me wanted to yell, wanted to cuss, wanted to go all the way in, but it's my grandma. Let me know in the comments below. Has anyone ever said to you, if you just stop worrying about it, it will happen, or maybe you need to go on vacation? I mean, when my grandmother said it to me, I was devastated, but as I became a fertility doula and I learned more about the body.
I learned that stress does in fact have a significant impact [00:03:00] on your ability to conceive. You see, one of the key players in your fertility journey is your hypothalamus and the hypothalamus Isla at the back of the neck. That really is the control center for your hormone. It is responsible for sending the signal to the pituitary glands to tell your ovaries to release the egg.
And when you're super stressed out, sis, that signal can be thrown out of whack leading to irregular cycles or even missed periods. But stress's impact on your hypothalamus isn't the only thing that goes on in your body. When you're stressed out, your body produces a hormone caused cortisol, and when your cortisol levels are elevated, you can impede your estrogen, your progesterone.
You can impede your cycle, you can impede your ability to implant. If the egg fertilizes your body's reactions to stress is to protect you so you don't get pregnant. All right, let me break it down this way. Your body still thinks and reacts as [00:04:00] if we're living in caveman times. So when you're stuck in traffic on a highway or you have a stressful situation at work, it reacts as if it's standing in front of a saber tooth tiger.
What happens is your body is flooded with hormones, make you run, freeze, hide, or just overcome the situation, but you see if you're pregnant. You can't respond. You can't run as fast to get away from this tiger. So what does it do? It adjusts the hormones so we stay safe. So if you are chronically stressed, you're living in a chronic state of responding to this saber tooth tiger that is standing right in front of you.
And here's what many people don't realize. This is stress not only happens in the mind, it happens in the body. Your body wants to protect you, and so it can stop ovulation. Make sure the lining doesn't get thick enough to impede your [00:05:00] pregnancy, to impede your chances. And you know what the hardest part about all this is, is if you don't deal with the stress, it can continue to block your blessing.
It can throw your hormones more at whack. It can make it so you don't ovulate. But fertility and being on a fertility journey is a stressor all on its own. It could be the very thing that is stopping you from getting pregnant. So the question becomes, what do you do about it? How do you live your life in a society that throws stressors at you all the time?
Understand that things may happen and still be de-stressed enough for your body to work optimally. Well, sis, I got you trying meditation, breath work. Even calming centering in the moment of acute stress can help to lower your cortisone levels, but for something that is more chronic stress, [00:06:00] something that is constantly coming up for you.
We need to look at building a self-care plan to help manage what's going on in our body, and this is exactly what we do inside the tribe. We create a very powerful self-care toolkit to help you manage your stress throughout your journey. You know, stress management and self-care isn't a one-off thing.
These practices are something you should be doing all the time. And when you create your own toolkit, you have a list, a booklet of exercises for you to try and utilize whenever you need them, but to help you start building your own self-care toolkit right now, let's talk about three different things that you can implement to help you de-stress.
Number one. Mindfulness practices. This is breath work, meditation, journaling. The most important thing is when a stressful situation happens, to release it from your [00:07:00] body and don't hold it in and stew on it. You may need a good cry for releasing. You may need to write it out, but getting it out of the body, lesses, the impact that it has on your body.
Number two, physical activity. I am not gonna lie to you, sis. Sometimes I gotta run it out. Sometimes I gotta get my boxing gloves on and punch it out. Sometimes I just need to release it from my body. And exercise can be your outlet. You can go for walks, runs boxing, one of my favorites. Anything to just get the energy out of the body and release the good hormones to bring you back into equilibrium.
And let's not forget, exercise is amazing for fertility, bringing nutrients and health to your womb. And number three, this one was the hardest for me. Setting emotional boundaries. Yep, I'm gonna own that. This one was [00:08:00] absolutely the heart of three. Knowing when to say no. Knowing when to say it's too much work.
Knowing when you need a break, knowing when to step away. Yeah. Knowing when not to go to that baby shower. Yeah, I said it. Knowing when to take care of your heart. I don't know if this is what you're experiencing, but when I was on my journey, the emotional rollercoaster would tear me apart. When someone would announce they were pregnant, I was deeply happy and excited for them, but I felt like my soul was ripping out.
And we really need to learn how to protect our peace, protect our heart on the string. It's just as important as doing all of the tests and all of the blood work and baby dancing at the right time.
So how can you implement strategies to protect your emotional health? [00:09:00] Is it setting boundaries with loved ones? Is it not telling people about your journey? Is it not going to the baby shower? Don't forget about all aspects of you that could possibly trigger stress responses within the body. But I'm not gonna sit here and be naive and say that stress is never gonna happen to you.
Of course it is. The most important part, the idea of the game, the thing that you need to do and implement is learn how to bring yourself back to balance and back to equilibrium when it does happen. Let me know below if you have any stress techniques, stress management techniques, self-care that you have implemented since you've started this journey.
Maybe we can build an amazing resource for everybody in the comment section. So take a minute and drop it below. I wanna thank you so much for joining me. I'm fertility coach Sophie, and remember, you deserve to be a mom. [00:10:00] Let's make it happen. Subscribe and like my channel if you want more fertility related videos.
I'll see you soon. Baby Dust for all.
