Hypnosis, meditation and relaxation exercise can serve as empowering processes which can be used while undertaking fertility treatment. The relationship between stress and infertility is complex. There is minimal evidence that anxiety contributes significantly to infertility, but increasing evidence that depression may.
Several studies have shown that infertile women who learn a variety of stress-reducing techniques, including relaxation techniques, have higher pregnancy rates than women who do not learn such techniques.
Physiologically, hypnosis, meditation and/or relaxation exercises are known to decrease blood pressure, to lower heart rate, and to decrease the production of stress hormones. The connection between stress and decreased fertility is thought to be directly related to our biological evolution. The mind-body knows that in situations of extreme tension our sex organs are our most expendable parts. The mind-body knows that when times are tough, is not the time to make a baby.
Meditation also stimulates the pineal gland. This gland produces several hormones, two of which are serotonin (necessary for libido and well-being) and melatonin (another hormone connected with feelings of relaxation and well-being), which in turn stimulate the pituitary gland. The pituitary is the gland which predominantly regulates female reproductive hormones such as FSH (follicle stimulating hormone which matures the eggs in the ovaries), estrogen, progesterone, and oxytocin in labour.