Approximately 30 percent of IVF patients suffer from anxiety and depression. In fact, studies suggest that an infertility diagnosis causes the same amount of stress, anxiety, and depression as an HIV or cancer diagnosis.
In one of the largest controlled yoga studies to date, researchers analyzed the impact of yoga on anxiety in fertility patients.
Using the American Psychological Association's State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), study results found that after a six-week yoga program, state anxiety scores reduced by 20 percent in the yoga group versus two percent in the control group, and trait anxiety reduced by 12 percent in the yoga group versus three percent in the control group.
Participants completed 45 minutes of vinyasa-style yoga and 30 minutes of group discussion with other infertility patients per week over a period of six weeks.
Listen in as Dr. Jenny Hirshfeld-Cytron and Beth Heller share how yoga can decrease your stress and help you conceive.





Dr. Hirshfeld-Cytron is board certified in both Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility and has been practicing medicine since 2004. She completed her Obstetrics and Gynecology residency at University of Chicago, and then completed her three-year fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at Northwestern.
Beth Heller is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of Pulling Down the Moon, Inc., Integrative Care for Fertility (ICF ™). Beth earned her Master's Degree in Human Nutrition and Dietetics in 1999 and prior to founding PDtM.