Infertility affects over 6 million women in the U.S. alone, and for many, the cause remains a troublesome mystery, until now — well, not really. A recent study revealed that stress has an impact on fertility, but we already knew that. And moms everywhere can't believe money was wasted on this research.
The infertility advice women are already tired of hearing
If you've ever struggled with infertility, you may have been the recipient of unwelcome advice to "relax" or "go on vacation." And as unhelpful as this advice may seem, there is a glimmer of truth to it, as a recent study linked stress with a higher risk of infertility. The problem is, we all kind of already knew that — this is what makes the advice so annoying.
Researchers followed 501 women who were trying to conceive, checking saliva samples for cortisol and alpha-amylase, which are two biomarkers of stress. They found that women with higher levels of alpha-amylase were linked with reduced odds of getting pregnant each month. This is an interesting tidbit of knowledge, but does it make a difference to women who are struggling?
What's next? Linking sex to pregnancy?
Moms everywhere are wondering why they decided to study this, when it's common knowledge. "I actually can't believe that anyone wasted money on this!" says Heather, mom of two. "We've long known that stress delays ovulation — did someone not know that without ovulation there is no pregnancy?"
This has led to other suggestions of what researchers may turn to next. "Yeah, so, what study are they going to fund next?" quips Lara, mom of three. "The one linking sex and pregnancy? I'm telling you, it doesn't happen every time, and it doesn't happen to everyone, but these people who have sex, well, there's a greater than a CHANCE statistical significance that they'll get pregnant."
Anna, mother of one, has suffered from secondary infertility for several years, and finds this study completely idiotic. "In my case, my reproductive endocrinologist doesn't know what's causing my infertility, but we have been working together to keep my stress levels down," she tells us. "He figured it out on his own, why on earth are they actually wasting money on such a stupid study? Everyone already knows this, and confirming it doesn't mean anything to me."
Breaking news: Grass is green
Lindsay, a mom from Texas, summed this silly study up with a short and sweet thought. "And in other news… grass is green."
While it's great that scientists are looking into causes of impaired fertility, moms feel that looking into areas that aren't already common knowledge would be a great idea. Confirming that stress is linked to a reduced chance of pregnancy is nice, but it really doesn't change anything. What will they study next?
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