In this episode of Yoga | Birth | Babies, I speak with fertility specialist and executive director of the Domar Center for Mind/Body Health, Alice Domar, PhD. Dr. Domar takes the time to explain how stress impacts fertility, pregnancy and motherhood. She offers some wonderful tips for stress relief for those facing fertility issues and discusses how to integrate her new app FertiCalm for awkward social moments when trying to conceive!
In this Episode:
- Dr. Domar’s path to working in the field of fertility, pregnancy and stress.
- The connection between stress and fertility.
- How stress negatively effects fertility and pregnancy.
- How fertility doctors deal with nontraditional methods of treating infertility
- An explanation of the findings from Dr Domar’s study: “Impact of a group mind/body intervention on pregnancy rates in IVF patients.”
- Recommended modalities to help combat stress for those trying to conceive and during pregnancy
- How yoga is integrated into support for women seeking fertility treatment as well as for pregnant women
- The relationship between weight and fertility- too thin or too heavy.
- The 10 session Mind/Body program run in Boston at the Domar Center.
- Dr. Domar’s new app, FertiCalm.
- Final tips for those trying to conceive, pregnant and new moms.
About Alice D. Domar, PhD:
Alice D. Domar, PhD is a pioneer in the application of mind/body medicine to women’s health issues. She not only established the first Mind/Body Center for Women’s Health, but also conducts ongoing ground-breaking research in the field. Her research focuses on the relationship between stress and different women’s health conditions, and creating innovative programs to help women decrease physical and psychological symptoms. She is the founder of the Mind/Body Program for Infertility and is one of the top experts on the stress/fertility connection.
Dr. Domar received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Health Psychology from Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Ferkauf School of Professional Psychology of Yeshiva University. Her post-doctoral training was at Beth Israel Hospital, Deaconess Hospital, and Children’s Hospital, all in Boston.
She has conducted research on infertility, breast cancer, menopausal symptoms, ovarian cancer, and premenstrual syndrome. Dr. Domar has earned an international reputation as one of the country’s top women’s health experts.
She is currently the Executive Director of the Domar Centers for Mind/Body Health, and the Director of Mind/Body Services at Boston IVF. She is an associate professor, part-time, of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Biology at Harvard Medical School, and a senior staff psychologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Dr. Domar has compiled an impressive list of accomplishments as a best-selling author, media authority and sought-after public speaker. She is the author of numerous books including “Six Steps to Increased Fertility” and “Conquering Infertility”, and was on the Board of Directors of Resolve, the National Infertility Association, for ten years. She has been on the Board of Experts for LLuminari and a columnist for Redbook and Health magazines. She was also a featured expert on the online social health network BeWell.com.
Three of her books have been finalists for the Books for a Better Life Award. She was also the Series Editor for a series of mind/body books by Harvard Medical Publications/Simon and Schuster. She is the narrator of the DVD’s “Stress and Relaxation Explained” and “Infertility Explained”, both of which won silver Telly Awards. Dr. Domar has appeared on the Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, Dateline NBC, CNN, PBS, and the CBS and NBC Evening News, to name a few. She presents lectures and conducts workshops throughout the US and around the world and went on tour with Oprah in the spring of 2004 and 2005 with the LLuminari team. Dr. Domar was named to the prestigious list of 15 “Women to Watch in 2004” by Lifetime TV and the top experts in women’s health by Mind/Body Green in 2015. Her newest book, “Finding Calm for the Expectant Mom” came out in 2016. She co-created the app FertiCalm in 2017. Get the app here: http://www.ferticalmapp.com/
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