Background: In Indian context, infertility is often a silent struggle. Despite the high prevalence of infertility in the country, the majority of couples do not share their struggles with family or friends due to social stigma, thus increasing their psychological vulnerability. Heartfulness meditation has shown to decrease stress, anxiety, loneliness and improve sleep along with quality of life.
Objectives: The current retrospective series evaluated the effectiveness of Heartfulness-based integrative therapy on infertility outcomes.
Methods: The program consisted of a 5- day onsite lifestyle modification workshop and online follow up meditation sessions.
Results: 54 couples with infertility participated in the program with a mean age of 30.74 years (SD 5.04) for females and 34.03 years (SD 4.54) for males. 15 couples presented with male infertility, 16 couples presented with female infertility and in 5 couples both partners had infertility problems. Further, 18 couples had unexplained infertility. 24 couples conceived with 18 natural conceptions, five via assisted reproductive technology and one spontaneous abortion.
Conclusion: The program was beneficial in the cohort who utilized it as prescribed resulting in conception of 24 out of 54 couples. Future research investigating the causal relationship of Heartfulness meditation on fertility outcomes in a randomized control study could solidify this treatment method to be used independently or as an adjuvant therapy with assisted reproductive technologies.
Keywords: Anxiety and stress management; Assisted reproductive technology; Heartfulness; Infertility; Integrative practices; Lifestyle modification; Meditation.
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