From Michael Pawson
Clare Wilson’s article detailed the negative effects of stress on women’s fertility (29 March, p 16). I started one of the first fertility clinics in London in 1971. It soon became clear that stress was a significant factor in some women’s failure to conceive.
One woman was making a lot of money by working 18-hour-plus days in the City of London. I encouraged her to think about reducing her workload and possibly changing her life in more radical ways. She wrote to me a year later to say that she had thought about my comments in the taxi on the way back to work, and had handed in her resignation that day. She had taken up horticulture and was now six months pregnant. She had never been happier.
There are countless similar stories that I have listened to over the years, but my evidence has always been anecdotal. How good it is to hear scientific support for something that has been so apparent for a long time.
Tarrant Gunville, Dorset, UK
