Women who are suffering from long-term stress – whether at home or at work – are more likely to give birth to girls than boys, according to a new study presented at the annual conference of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and reported by the Daily Mail.
Researchers at Oxford University in the U.K. recruited 338 women who were trying to get pregnant. They had the women keep diaries about their lives, stress levels and bedroom activities. In the months leading up to the pregnancy, the women were also tested for levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
The researchers found that the women who were the most stressed were 75 percent more likely to give birth to girls when compared to those who were the least stressed.
The study authors aren’t sure why stress levels affect the sex of the baby, especially since gender is determined by the sperm at the time of conception. They hypothesize that high cortisol levels could make it harder for male embryos to implant in the womb, or could cause more fragile male babies to miscarry.
Due to the small sample size, further research is needed to confirm the link between stress and gender.
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