Effect of Yoga on Psychological Distress among Women Receiving Treatment for Infertility

BACKGROUND: Infertility among women has been associated with significant psychological distress, anxiety, and depression. yoga therapy has been found to be useful in the management of anxiety, depression and psychological distress. AIM: To review studies on the effectiveness of yoga in reducing psychological distress and improving clinical outcomes among women receiving treatment for infertility. METHODOLOGY: PubMed, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar databases were searched for studies using the following inclusion criteria: studies published in English, those published between 2000 and 2018, published in peer-reviewed journals, and those with Yoga as an intervention. Review articles, studies without any yoga interventions for infertility, and male infertility were excluded. The keywords included for the literature search were: Yoga, Mindfulness, Relaxation technique, Stress, Distress, Anxiety, Infertility, In Vitro Fertilization (IVF), and Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART). RESULTS: Three studies satisfied the selection criteria. Two studies involved Hatha yoga intervention and one study used structured yoga program. The variables assessed in these studies were: (1) anxiety, (2) depression, (3) emotional distress, and (4) fertility-related quality of life. All the studies reported an improvement in the anxiety scores after yoga intervention. CONCLUSION: Yoga therapy may be potentially useful in improving anxiety scores among women suffering from infertility. More studies are needed in this area to establish role of yoga as an adjuvant during the treatment of infertility.