Bounty

The chances of conception are significantly reduced if women are suffering with stress, scientists have concluded.

Experts have claimed that women who are stressed-out are 12% less likely to fall pregnant during their fertile time than those who are calm.

The importance of relaxation when it comes to falling pregnant has been proven by scientists from Oxford University.

The stress hormone cortisol and the enzyme alpha-amylase (an indicator of adrenalin levels) were analysed by researchers testing the saliva of 274 women.

All the women were aged between 18 and 40 and were trying for a baby naturally.

The study, published in the journal Fertility and Sterility, found no effect from cortisol on the chances of falling pregnant.

But women in the group with the highest levels of alpha-amylase had a 12% lower chance of falling pregnant for each day of their most fertile days than those with the lowest levels of alpha-amylase.

The authors concluded: "Stress significantly reduced the probability of conception each day during the fertile window."

Dr Cecilia Pyper, from the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit at the Oxford University, said: "This is the first study to find that a biological measure of stress is associated with a woman's chances of becoming pregnant that month.

"We found that those women with high levels of a marker for stress were less likely to succeed in conceiving."