New research published in the Iranian Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Research explains how acupressure can help increase the success rates of IVF/ICSI.

IVF is becoming an increasingly popular form of conception, particularly, as there are plenty of people who unfortunately struggle with conceiving. There are many people who are happy to help out as well by becoming an egg donor with companies like ELITE IVF. A lot of the times though, when it comes to IVF, people want to make sure that they do plenty of research beforehand so that they know exactly what they are getting themselves into.

IVF/ICSI is not a decision that can be taken lightly and people need to prepare themselves for it as it an be emotionally draining at times. However, for people who are keen to have a higher success rate of IVF/ICSI, then they can always try out acupressure, you can find out how it helps below:

1. Acupressure reduces the tone of the sympathetic nervous system during IVF/ICSI treatment. According to this study, acupressure on Ht7 and PC6 can reduce facial blushing, hot flushes, high-blood pressure, and headaches due to the stress. Having a hyperactive sympathetic nervous system can lead to insufficient blood flow to the ovaries and uterus during IVF/ICSI cycles.

2. Acupressure also lessens mood swings, hand tremors, and insomnia during IVF/ICSI, which helps the body produce more progesterone through deeper sleep and relaxation. The higher the stress levels are, the lower the progesterone levels are. Lowered progesterone levels can also lead to abnormal development of a fetus’ brain and post-partum autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, MS, ALS, Lupus, and scleroderma.

3. This study also showed that acupressure can help women improve their digestive system function by combating nausea, acid reflux and indigestion during IVF/ICSI. Improved digestion can make women produce more progesterone to facilitate healthy pregnancies with IVF/ICSI or natural pregnancy.

Also Read: Causes of Infertility Preventing Conception

4. The injection of hormones during IVF/ICSI can lead to emotional changes such as fear of treatment failure, panic attacks, feelings of helplessness, and anxiety. These emotional changes can reduce the success rates of IVF/ICSI. Acupressure can make the body produce more relaxing hormones so women with infertility undergoing IVF can have less stress and more relaxation. As tempting as this sounds for anyone who is going through IVF, speaking to specialists like Dr Andrew Levi would be the right person to ask if this would be something that you could try, especially if you are dealing with anxiety through this process. It’s worth asking, as you will never know otherwise.

5. Acupressure during IVF/ICSI also helps women with infertility improve their concentration and reduce mental disturbances. As a result, they have less negative thoughts.