Entertainment can be such a great way to escape our day to day and even regulate our moods…stories can make us laugh, cry, feel scared, or filled with awe. You may not realize it, but every time you watch or read something that stimulates emotions like these, your mind/body can’t always tell whether you are experiencing it or witnessing it. It stimulates the brain in a similar way. This phenomenon is due to a system of special neurons in the brain called “mirror neurons”. It is felt even more strongly in empathetic people and in women, who have more mirror neurons than men.
It is estimated that between 10-20% of neurons are mirror neurons in the brain (for comparison, about 20% are motor neurons, which tell your muscles to move your body). This takes up a big chunk of our brain capacity, allowing us to connect with other humans, understand what they need or feel, and act accordingly…to protect ourselves, comfort/help others, share in their joy, etc. They are a necessity for living in communities and having relationships. They can also intensify our stress or help alleviate it.
During tough emotional experiences like the uncertainty of a long fertility struggle or a stressful IVF cycle, mirror neurons can exacerbate the emotional rollercoaster, but they can also potentially help us, depending on what we are exposed to daily. Think about it, how often do you find yourself on the edge or your seat or biting your nails while watching a scary movie or intensely violent show? Or crying when a favorite character grieves? Throw extra hormones into the mix, and these emotions can feel even bigger. Our bodies register this as stress, even though we know it is just entertainment. We can’t always control the stimuli we see in our daily lives at work, on the subway, or interacting with people, but we CAN control the stimuli to which we expose ourselves for entertainment: TV shows, movies, books, articles, social media scrolling. Think of your entertainment as part of your treatment strategy. Do you want to add to your stress via your mirror neurons by watching dramatic, scary, sad or violent shows? Or do you want to calm your nervous system and ease your stress by watching comedies or reading saucy romance novels?
Most people know the best stimulus for laughter is seeing another person laugh. We often say laughter is contagious, but now we know this is true due to mirror neurons! One of our favorite IVF studies was done by a team of researchers curious about the impact of laughter on embryo transfer outcomes. They had “medical clowns” (we prefer the term comics or performers, but you get the gist) visit patients immediately after embryo transfers and perform for 15-20 minutes. The researchers found that the pregnancy rate for the group exposed to the performers was 36.4% while the control group was 20.2% (these were fresh embryos, not PGS tested frozen embryos, which typically have higher success rates). The significance can be seen though.
When we are laughing, our brain chemistry changes, increasing chemicals that make us feel happy. This also shifts our nervous system from the stressy “fight or flight” sympathetic-dominant state to the “rest and digest” parasympathetic-dominant state. It’s hard to feel stressed when you are laughing! Acupuncture also helps shift the nervous system to the parasympathetic state, which is one of the reasons it is so helpful for fertility, especially IVF cycles and embryo transfer. While we are in a parasympathetic-dominant state, blood flow is naturally prioritized to the reproductive organs. So use your mirror neurons to your advantage by limiting your exposure to stressful stimuli and increasing your exposure to ones that make you laugh.
Try these tips if you are struggling with stress and trying to conceive or want to keep your nervous system calm for your IVF or embryo transfer cycle:
- Avoid intense dramas or violent shows/movies that elicit fear, grief, sadness, or suspense
- Line up funny or romantic entertainment through books, TV shows, memes, comedy shows, movies, etc.
- Tell your friends/family to send you jokes or funny reels during your implantation phase (6-10 days after ovulation or the 3 days after a blastocyst embryo transfer).
- Avoid doing deep dives in the news, especially during your implantation window
- Avoid or limit social media if you tend to feel triggered by what you see there
- Look at pictures or videos from happy times of your life, especially ones that make you feel safe and loved or laugh.