You'll never hear me suggest that a fertility-challenged woman should "just relax"! There definitely are connections, though, between how a woman's body handles daily stress and how her reproductive system functions.
The mind-body connection to fertility is no longer new information. What IS new are the approaches to helping women find ways to relieve stress, soothe their bodies, and thereby enhance their ability to get pregnant.
Also new: Houston Fertility Center's connection with Kneads Houston. I asked Magen Weishut to talk a little about the services available to HFC patients:
What do you think about the connection between stress, fertility, and massage?
Fertility and pregnancy can be very stressful, and massage can significantly decrease your anxiety level. High stress levels alter signals to the brain's hormone center. As a result, the brain may not send out the reproductive hormones necessary to tell the ovaries when to release an egg, delaying ovulation.
Since stress has been shown to interfere with getting pregnant, it makes sense that reducing stress, through massage, improves odds of conceiving.
Is this a special 'kind' of massage for fertility?
The main goal of fertility massage is to get the full body relaxed, so the body can function at a more efficient rate. Fertility massage focuses on cleansing the body, enhancing the blood, opening the breath, and relaxing and integrating, respectively.
From the clients point of view, the main difference between a massage they may have had before and what they will recieve with us is massage of the abdomen. Massaging of the abdomen helps the circulation to the ovaries, uterus, and other organs.
The specialized therapists from Kneads Houston will see our patients either at Houston Fertility Center locations or home or office -- just ask!
