How Stress Affects Your Hormones and Fertility
Dr. Natalie Crawford, board-certified OBGYN and REI, unpacks how stress communicates with your brain and ovaries—and how that relationship can shape your cycles, egg quality, and fertility over time.
As a Woman · Natalie Crawford, MD
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Show Notes
Dr. Natalie Crawford, board-certified OBGYN and REI, unpacks how stress communicates with your brain and ovaries—and how that relationship can shape your cycles, egg quality, and fertility over time. This episode connects physiology with realistic strategies so you can better support your hormones in a chronically stressed world.
Key Topics:
1. Stress & Your Brain–Ovary Connection
- How your brain integrates stress and reproductive signals
- Why the same “control center” influences both hormones and stress
- How modern life blurs acute and chronic stress
2. Cycles, Ovulation & Stress Load
- Ways stress can alter normal ovulatory patterns
- Early warning signs that your cycle is under strain
- How stress-related changes can progress over time
3. Metabolism, Inflammation & Egg Health
- How stress affects glucose, insulin, and inflammation
- Why metabolic health matters for hormone balance
- Links between stress biology and fertility outcomes
4. Building Stress-Resilient Hormones
- Daily practices to lower your physiological stress burden
- Movement, sleep, and muscle as hormone-supportive tools
- Rethinking coping mechanisms and everyday stressors
Pre-order Dr. Crawford's debut book, The Fertility Formula, now! https://www.nataliecrawfordmd.com/book
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