Exercise and Stress Reduction

Stress per se, does not cause reproductive difficulties, but stressful lifestyles can impact our relationships, our sexuality, and our overall sense of well-being. Perhaps the single best stress-reducer and the healthiest, is to develop a regular habit of exercise. For many, this seems like an unattainable goal given our busy schedules. The single biggest trick to getting into a healthy exercise pattern is to find an exercise regimen that you enjoy. For most people there are tremendous advantages to finding a exercise program that involves group classes led by professional instructors (as compared with trying to ‘go it alone’ with home-based exercise programs). Professionally led group exercise keeps you motivated, keeps the exercise varied and fun, and allows us to ‘suffer & sweat’ together in an atmosphere of emotional support and encouragement.

Some common choices for people are: water aerobics, spin classes, kick-boxing, martial arts such as Tae Kwon Do, Pilates, and others. A regular exercise program will increase metabolism, cut down appetite, and make areas of weight loss and smoking cessation easier to achieve. In addition to reproductive benefits, regular exercise will lower the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes and insulin resistance, and cancer.

A simple, no expense, meditation-oriented approach to stress reduction which we recommend for all our patients (and ourselves!) is nicely presented at the following website: www.countingbreaths.com. Try it; you'll be glad you did!