RBF and your fertility

What does Resting B Face (RBF) have to do with your fertility? Yes, women have a right to look serious and not be called a b.  Yes, there is no male equivalent of RBF, they just get to look serious and no one gives it a name.

It could just be your RBF (that’s okay, we know you are a sweetie) or you could actually be frowning because you’re worried and stressed about trying to have a healthy pregnancy and baby.

We all feel stress differently and sometimes we don’t even know how it is affecting our daily lives.

It’s interesting to see if there are areas in your life where you could shine a little light.  See if these resonate with you.

Which one are you?

Are you stressed to the max?

Many people I talk to that are going through infertility are stressed to the max.  With all the doctors appointments, fertility drugs, juggling career and trying to get pregnant, it can be downright overwhelming. Stress is normal (no need to beat yourself up!)

Or are you fine thank you very much?

There are other people who say they aren’t stressed at all.  These people may not be aware of the signals that their body is sending them, or they really could be stress free.

See if you recognize any of these signals of stress:

– feeling irritable – you want to beat the person up in front of you in the express check out line because they are over by one item, you might be a little stressed

– misplacing things  – you run all over the house to find your keys, your purse, you name it you misplace it.  I could be excess cortisol (a stress hormone) can kill the hippocampus nerve cells leading to memory impairment.  It’s not your fault!

– waking up in the middle of the night – you may ruminate over all the things that happened during the day or feel the need to get up and do a load of laundry and reorganize the fridge, either way your sleep is disturbed and this leads to more irritabiilty

– twitching eye – your eye starts twitching and its sooo annoying, turns out this could be caused by stress

– don’t want to get out of bed – you may feel like sleeping all day, or your lazy Sunday turns into a lazy week, yep stress could be the culprit

– back pain, tension headache, jaw pain – according to the American Psychological Association muscle pain can be related to acute stress

– chest pains – according to the American Psychological Association chest pains can be linked to symptoms of stress – this one is not a joke – see your physician

– someone tells me you are frowning and you don’t know it – (it could be just your RBF – really you are a very sweet person – your face just doesn’t show it)

– You start cursing like a trucker – okay – I’m caught – in times of stress my expletives tend to increase

– You feel like screaming – you scream at your partner or anyone that pushes your buttons and we all know screaming like a wild person doesn’t help you stay in a calm zen like state.

Maybe this is you…

I also talk to many people who feel they are not stressed at all, when they are trying to get pregnant.  We all deal with stress differently.  What completely gets one person keyed up to the max, another person may just let it roll off their back.  These people have strategies to help them deal with stress.  They include self care, meditation, exercise, sleep routine and proper diet as part of their daily routines.

Here is a story about stress:

A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, “How heavy is this glass of water?”

Answers called out ranged from 8 ounces to 20 ounces.

The lecturer replied, “The absolute weight doesn’t matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you’ll have to call an ambulance.

“In each case, it’s the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.” He continued, “And that’s the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won’t be able to carry on.

“As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we’re refreshed, we can carry on with the burden.

“So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don’t carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you’re carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can.

“Relax; pick them up later after you’ve rested. Life is short. Enjoy it!”

What one burden you can put down tonight?  It’s okay, you don’t need to take on the world.  You also don’t need to smile to feel content and happy.  So bring on the RBF.

Sarah Clark empowers couples to discover how lifestyle and diet can dramatically impact their chances of conceiving.  She was diagnosed with premature ovarian failure at 28 and had both her kids with donor eggs.  Not until years later did she discover that the root cause of her infertility was a food intolerance.  Ready to gaze into your baby’s eyes….but struggling.  Download 10 step Checklist here

Reference

Stress Management

Signs of Stress – Huffington Post