The preceding sections would convince any reader that the female reproductive system is quite complex and susceptible to disruption at many stages. Some of the villains include depletion of fat cells, secretions of endorphins, prolactin, glucocorticoids, lack of progesterone and excessive prolactin interfering with the progesterone. It seems likely that even mild stressors should disrupt the system. Now take a look around you\u2014grinding poverty, families with nursing mothers living below flyovers and bridges.<\/p>\n
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Horrible (some would even call them inhuman) living conditions, diseases too numerous to enumerate, no place to live, no jobs, no food\u2014 you name it and that stressor exists. Yet, you see that children are being born and raised. No doubt there is high infant mortality but the key point is that the reproductive system is still working. A set of horrendous studies conducted by Nazi doctors on women in concentration camps showed that almost half of them stopped ovulating within a month of their being imprisoned in the concentration camps.<\/p>\n
That finding should come as no surprise\u2014mental and physical torture, extreme deprivation and inhuman living conditions will surely take a toll. The more interesting fact to note is that the other half continued to ovulate!<\/p>\n
It seems that the reproductive system is truly robust and can withstand a lot of stress. My personal belief is that it comes from the fact that reproduction is one of the basic instincts and evolution has favoured a system that can continue to work in the face of a number of odds. The survival instinct triumphs in the end! I hope that this will give a small ray of hope to the infertile couples and they are able to focus on the resilience of the reproductive systems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"