The Fertility Fitness Podcast

Fertility Focus on Cortisol

Episode Summary

In this week's focus Maria is talking about the hormone Cortisol.

Episode Notes

In this week's focus Maria is talking about the hormone cortisol which  is the primary stress hormone in the body and plays a crucial role in regulating sleep cycles, blood sugar, blood pressure, and reducing inflammation. However, elevated levels of cortisol due to chronic stress can negatively impact reproductive hormones and lead to infertility.

Cortisol can also affect other regulatory systems in the body, leading to weight gain and obesity, which have been linked to infertility and miscarriage. 

Coping methods such as overeating, smoking, drinking, or excessive exercise can also have negative effects on fertility. Therefore, it is important to lower stress levels through techniques such as regulating breathing and being aware of sources of stress. 

Controlling workload and feeling in control can also help reduce stress, but it may not be an option for everyone. 

Maria, is a PT who specialises in helping women have babies. 

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Episode Transcription

Welcome to Fertility Focus, this weekly minisode is designed to help you improve your fertility. Every Tuesday I will be focusing on actionable steps to help you take control of your own ttc journey. 

I’m Maria, I’m a personal trainer specialising in fertility. Whether you are preparing for IVF, managing your BMI or ready to throw everything  you have at your own trying to conceive journey, tune in each week to hear more. 

In this week’s show I am talking all about the hormone cortisol and how this can have an affect on your fertility. Even if you have never heard of cortisol before, you will certainly have experienced its effects, especially when trying to conceive. Cortisol is the primary stress hormone and is directly linked to our stress response; this is not to say however that we should just try and get rid of it! This is in fact impossible, and cortisol, like all hormones in the body plays a key role in keeping us functioning in the way we should. It regulates sleep cycles, blood sugar, blood pressure, it can actually help reduce inflammation in the short term  and of course, can have an effect on your fertility. 

So here are the 5 key things you need to know about cortisol and your fertility. 

1. The first thing to question is, is it actually true that stress can impact your fertility? The old wives tale of “stress can stop you getting pregnant” and being told “just relax, it will happen”, is quite possibly the most annoying advice on the planet. But whilst this advice is unhelpful, and we all know it’s not that simple, clinical research on the whole does support this idea.  Research carried out in New Zealand found the following:

• A group of nerve cells near the base of the brain – called RFRP neurons – suppressed the reproductive system when stressed.
   
• This was found to be because when the activity of the RFRP cells is increased as a result of cortisol, the reproductive hormones were negatively affected. If your reproductive hormones are affected, you will likely experience infertility. 
   
• Therefore, the conclusion was that stress can indeed impact your fertility. 

1. In addition to your hormone system not functioning in the way we would like if you are producing too much cortisol, cortisol can also have an impact on lots of your bodies other regulatory systems, leading to knock-on effects on your fertility.  One way this can happen is through the relationship between cortisol and blood sugar. Cortisol ups your blood sugar and insulin levels in order to give you the energy to “fight or flight.” Whilst helpful if running from a bear, or getting ready for a fight, if this happens regularly, it can lead to weight gain and obesity and unfortunately obesity has been linked to infertility and miscarriage.
    
2. One of the other very common knock on effects of elevated stress levels are the coping methods people use to help themselves feel better. In day to day terms, this may be known as eating our feelings, or turning to smoking, drinking, or even excessive exercise to manage our stress. Again, obesity can have serious effects on our fertility and alcohol and can have negative effects on egg quality. Excessive exercise and lowering your body fat too much can also impact your body’s ability to ovulate. No ovulation, no pregnancy. 
    
3. So, we need to look at how to lower stress levels. And this is the part of today’s show where I can already hear you screaming at me, shouting “don’t say it! Don’t dare say it!” So, I won't. Instead I will give you two of my favourite ways to come back to myself when I am feeling dysregulated, overstimulated and over stressed. One of my favourite ways is to regulate my breathing and there is research evidence to support this technique. Breathe in for 4, hold for 5, breathe out for 6. This is more than just slowing your breathing down, the breathing in, plus the pause is very important as it triggers the parasympathetic branch of your autonomic nervous system, and this is the part of you that calms you down when feeling stressed. So, why not try this with me right now: breathe in for 1,2,3,4, hold for 1,2,3,4,5 and breathe out for 1,2,3,4,5,6. Repeat and center yourself. It helps, I promise. 
    
4. Be aware of where your stress is coming from; it may not all be  related to the process of trying to conceive, and I know a number of women feel less stressed when they are actually in the process of treatment as they feel much more in control, like things are moving. Research has shown that there are two key things that link to stress: workload and control. If your workload is too high, and you feel out of control over your workload, this plays a key role in your levels of stress. I have known many women who have stepped down from jobs, gone part time or reevaluated their day to day patterns to help them take control over their day to day stressors whilst trying to conceive. However, I do want to stress, I fully appreciate that dropping hours at work, especially if having to pay for fertility treatment is not an option for everyone, I know that some people do not have the luxury of choosing what work they do and when they do it. I just wanted to mention it in today’s show, just in case there is anything you can do to help you feel more in control of your workload and lower your workload in some way if you can. 
    

If you want to get fitter for your own ttc journey, head over to fitnessfertility.com and sign up for my awesome free workouts. Also, follow me on instagram at fitness_fertility,  where you will find a fabulous community of other women who are also trying to conceive. 

Don’t forget to subscribe to the Fitness Fertility Podcast, and tune in every Friday to hear interviews with fertility experts and in-depth discussions on all aspects of fitness and fertility. 

And one more thing, please share the show, because you never know who is struggling and may need that little bit of extra help.