Can stress affect your IVF success?

A Swedish study found that among twenty-two women who went through IVF, the physiological stress levels among those who did not become pregnant were slightly higher than those who did achieve pregnancy.

Research has also linked physiological stress with reduced reproductive outcomes from reduced oocyte quality and cell death.

A small prospective cohort study measured physiological stress in IVF patients in 2017 and 2018 using salivary cortisol measurements. The researchers observed that stress in most women increased 28% in the pretreatment phase, reaching a high by oocyte retrieval day and then decreased by 12% by the time of embryo transfer.

The researchers in this study cautiously concluded that psychological and physiological stress do not affect IVF outcomes.

However, this study only accounted for the stress related to the IVF treatment itself and not the concerns caused by general personal or professional factors, which may adversely affect your gametes and fertility in the long run.