The impact of stress on infertility patients often goes unnoticed. Women can face many underlying stressful situations, such as the difficulties of going to work while undergoing infertility testing and treatments and the fear caused by media and statistical reports about declining fertility as one ages.

Modern studies have now confirmed that psychological and emotional blocks can create infertility issues. There may be unacknowledged fears around pregnancy, labor, childbirth, hospitals, medical treatments, motherhood, loss of independence or individuality. Questions about a husband's ability to be a good father, unresolved dysfunctional patterns from a woman's own childhood, or even the fear that a new baby might be a threat to the relationship with her spouse can all cause inner conflict and stress.

Hypnosis can help women identify and process subconscious resistance that might be interfering with conception. It is to enhance and support any protocol treatment suggested by your doctor and not a replacement for proper medical care.

OBJECTIVES FOR USING HYPNOSIS TO OVERCOME INFERTILITY
Stress Reduction
·Reduce Stress/Calm nervous system
·Increase relaxation capability
·Activate parasympathetic nervous system
·Relax and calm the mind to prevent chronic stress build up
·Identify sources of mental, emotional, and physical tension

Eliminate Unwanted Habits that May Inhibit Fertility
·Smoking Cessation (See Astounding Research Below!)
·Release overeating
·Moderate tendency to excessive exercise

Facilitate Healing
·Balance mind, body and spirit
·Gain new insight as to the cause of infertility and its cures
·Stimulate changes in many body functions usually considered inaccessible to conscious influence
·Create an image of wellness and natural fertility

Remove Any Mental or Emotional Blocks to Pregnancy
·Increase coping mechanisms
·Deepen awareness/Remove obstacles
·Eliminate fears that may be roadblocks to conception, pregnancy, chilbirth and motherhood
·Induce feelings of optimism and well-being concluded to be associated with an increased number of eggs fertilized and embryos transferred
·Help break the cycle of despair associated with infertility

Enhance Success of IVF & IUI Treatments
·Lower levels of stress are correlated with more eggs retrieved and fertilized
·Reduce the procedural stresses of medical infertility treatments
·Promote successful implantation of fertilized eggs


THE RESEARCH:
SMOKING: It seems every day there is a new report revealing further reasons that smoking is damaging to your health. Many of us know that when we inhale the combination of addictive toxins and lethal smoke, our throats, mouth and lungs are at an increased risk of developing cancer and other diseases.
But have you ever considered what it's doing to your fertility?

Naturally you would think that when it comes to sperm production, only men would need to worry about it. However, new evidence shows that pregnant mothers who smoke can be affecting their unborn son's fertility as well.

Two independent studies, researching both the effects on men and pregnant women, were published in the September 8th online issue of Human Reproduction.

Smoking and the Effect on Men Dr. Mohamed E. Hammadeh, head of the assisted reproductive laboratory in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of the Saarland in Saar, Germany, along with his colleagues took a closer look at the impacts of smoking on fertility. Men who smoke, the findings suggest, experience a drop in certain levels of protein, protamine, which are necessary for sperm production and development. There are even actual DNA changes in the sperm of smokers as well.

The study consisted of 53 heavy smokers and 63 non-smokers. Heavy smokers, in this case, were defined as those who smoked more than 20 cigarettes in a day. Sperm samples were examined from both groups of men after they had abstained from sexual contact for three to four days. From these samples, the levels of two types of protein, protamine, were examined. In smokers, the level of one form of protamine was 14% lower than their non-smoking peers. For years researchers have been citing smoking as a cause of fertility problems, but this new research marks the first concrete evidence of smoking’s effects on protamine and the DNA make up. The study further found that the damage to the DNA is due to “oxidative stress,” yet another hazardous effect of smoking.

Smoking and the Effect on Pregnant Women Bearing Male Children
The second study was lead by Dr. Claus Yding Andersen, a professor of human reproductive physiology at the University Hospital of Copenhagen in Denmark. The study focused primarily on the direct impact of smoking on the fetus throughout the first trimester.

The researchers studied the tissue from the testes of 24 male embryos aborted between 37 – 68 days of conception. The number of “germ cells” were studied and concluded that of the embryos from women who were smokers, the levels were 55% lower. Germ cells are those that turn into either sperm in men or eggs in women. The other cells that go on to form important tissues in the fetus were also 37% lower in those obtained from a smoking mother.

It is the hope of many researchers and doctors alike, that the more we find out about the dangers of smoking, the more likely we will see higher numbers of those who quit the habit for good. These two studies show that if you plan on having a child, whether you are a man or a woman, forgoing cigarettes altogether is the best chance to conceive a healthy baby.