Stress And Your Fertility

Since April is Stress Awareness Month for 2025, I want to shine a spotlight on the connection between stress and fertility in this blog post. 

If you’re struggling to conceive, stress can feel like an inevitable part of your fertility journey. 

You’re on an emotional rollercoaster that can quickly swing between optimism and uncertainty and if you've been trying to get pregnant for a while, it can feel as though you've already tried everything possible.

But as you’ll learn in this blog post, it’s not only emotional stress that we need to be mindful of when it comes to supporting fertility and increasing your chances of a successful pregnancy. 

Physical stressors can impact your fertility too, including many factors you may not have previously thought about. 

We can’t avoid stress completely but we can take steps to minimise the impact of emotional and physical stress to get you a step closer to achieving your dream of becoming a parent. 

Does Stress Cause Infertility?

Given the close relationship between stress and infertility, you may be wondering if stress can cause infertility. 

Studies have strongly suggested that stress may play a role in infertility. 

Researchers have found that women who had higher levels of a substance called alpha amylase in their saliva had a 12% reduction in pregnancy compared to women with lower levels. Another study had similar findings, with high levels of alpha amylase linked to almost 30% lower odds. 

Alpha amylase is secreted into saliva and is seen as a sign of how the body is responding to psychological and physical stress.

Stress And Fertility: What’s The Connection?

How does stress affect fertility? Chronic stress in particular can affect hormone balance, ovulation and egg and sperm health:

Can Stress Prevent Ovulation? 

Increased cortisol production can disrupt hormone balance and either delay ovulation or lead to it being skipped completely. This can result in a longer menstrual cycle, irregular periods or absent periods. 

Since ovulation is crucial for conception, delayed or irregular ovulation means fewer opportunities to conceive, a less predictable fertile window and less time for the uterine lining to develop for implantation (more on this one later) - all of which makes it more challenging to get pregnant (and stay pregnant). 

How long can stress delay ovulation for? If  ovulation is only slightly delayed, your cycle may still be ‘normal’, and you may not realise that ovulation has been affected. 

If ovulation doesn’t happen at all, your cycle may be much longer than usual or you may not have a period at all. 

Can Stress Prevent Implantation?

To support implantation, the body needs factors such as balanced hormones, a receptive uterine lining, a healthy embryo, a healthy immune system and optimal blood flow to the uterus. 

Stress can present challenges in all of these areas. 

Stress can be a factor in a shorter luteal phase (the post-ovulation phase of the menstrual cycle). This can also reduce the opportunity for the uterine lining to be adequately prepared for implantation. 

Low progesterone can play a key role in whether the uterine lining is thick enough to support implantation, and this is a hormone that is sensitive to the effects of stress. 

Decreased blood flow to the uterus as a result of the fight-or-flight response and increased inflammation are other stress-related factors that can impact implantation. 

Can Stress Affect Egg Quality?

Higher levels of cortisol can impact hormones, including the delicate balance of oestrogen, progesterone, Follicle-Stimulating Hormone (FSH) and Luteinising Hormone (LH). This can result in poor follicular development and immature or poor quality eggs. 

Stress can increase oxidative stress and contribute to mitochondrial and DNA damage in egg and sperm cells. Eggs may take longer to mature or they may not be released at all, especially if your levels of FSH and/or LH aren’t optimal. 

If you want to learn more about factors that can affect egg quality, have a read of my blog post on how to improve egg quality through nutrition here. 

Physical Versus Emotional Stress

We often think of stress as being purely emotional but stressors can also be physical. 

Stress is simply the body’s response to a perceived threat. Whether the ‘threat’ stems from a  physical or psychological stressor, the body will react in the same way.

Modern life is full of stressors, including: 

• Poor diet lacking in nutrients crucial for fertility 

• Vitamin/mineral deficiencies (that can occur even if your diet is ‘good’)

• Intense exercise 

• Poor sleep

• Environmental toxins

• Excess caffeine 

• Digital stressors from factors such as blue light from devices, frequent/constant notifications from email/social media and information overload 

• Heat exposure from saunas, hot tubs, very hot baths/showers, using laptops and other devices on your lap

• Chronic inflammation 

• Hormonal imbalances 

• Thyroid imbalances 

• Adrenal dysfunction

• Blood sugar dysregulation

• Poor gut health 

• Being overweight or underweight 

Since these types of physical stressors can increase inflammation levels and disrupt hormone balance, ovulation and sperm production, your lifestyle could very easily be adding stress and negatively impacting your fertility. 

Using Nutrition & Lifestyle To Manage Stress And Restore Balance

If stress is affecting your chances of success, we can look to reduce inflammation, rebalance hormones, support reproductive health and regulate the nervous system so that stress has less of an impact on your fertility.

A few of the key areas to focus on include:

Stress management - Meditation, breathwork and other stress management tools can help to regulate cortisol levels, minimise the impact of raised cortisol and support the adrenals. 

Nutrition to support stress resilience and fertility - Even if your diet is ‘good’, it’s not necessarily supporting your fertility. You could still have deficiencies in vitamins and minerals that are crucial for fertility and many of these nutrients also support adrenal health and stress resilience. Some of the fertility-friendly nutrients are vitamins A, C, D and E, B vitamins (especially folate), omega-3 fatty acids, magnesium, zinc and selenium.

Prioritise sleep - Getting enough sleep is important for managing stress, especially cortisol levels, and supporting cellular repair to reduce the impact of stress. Aim for 7-9 hours as much as possible. Magnesium can be helpful if you struggle to sleep well and I always recommend avoiding blue light from devices in the evenings so that production of melatonin (the ‘sleep hormone’) isn’t disrupted. 

Exposure to morning sunlight - Morning sunlight helps to lower cortisol levels and reduce inflammation. It also promotes production of serotonin, the ‘feel-good’ hormone, and can help to regulate the sleep-wake cycle for better sleep and energy. 

Coffee AFTER breakfast  - Waiting until after breakfast to drink coffee helps to balance blood sugar levels, especially if you’re prioritising protein-rich breakfasts. 

Moderate exercise - Intense exercise can be a physical stressor but moderate movement supports hormone balance and helps to manage stress. 

Functional testing to identify imbalances - When we know the imbalances that are acting as your physical stressors, it’s much easier to support the body to manage the impact of stress. The functional tests I recommend for my fertility clients depends on their fertility journey, symptoms and goals but can include the Dried Urine Test For Comprehensive Hormones (DUTCH) to see how the body responds to stress and assess adrenal function and the Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA) to assess the status of minerals involved in the body’s stress response and adrenal function. With these insights into imbalances, I can create a personalised plan of nutrition and lifestyle interventions to restore balance and improve resilience to stress.

Are you ready to make sure that stress isn’t the missing puzzle piece on your fertility journey?

As a fertility-focused Nutritional Therapist, my goal is to find the root causes of your fertility struggles and help you to address them via targeted nutrition and lifestyle interventions. 

Stress is just one of the root causes that may be impacting your chances of conception. 

Working with me provides the opportunity to uncover what else may be driving your fertility challenges and be guided every step of the way as you optimise your health and fertility.

You can work with me individually or with your partner via my 3-month Female Balance programme or 3-month It Takes Two programme. 

Disclaimer - *Please note that the information contained in this blog post is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult your doctor or other healthcare provider for a medical diagnosis.