Effectiveness of Benson Relaxation Method on Reduction of Stress and Increase of the Number and Motility of Sperms among Infertile Males

Psychologically, infertility is a critical period resulting from the imbalance between couples who expect a child, so that it becomes clear that they are not able to reach their goal. The aim of the present study was to determine the effectiveness of Benson relaxation method on reduction of stress and increasing the number and motility of sperms among infertile males.
This study was conducted on males referring to two urologists in Khoramabad city, Iran in 2016. The subjects were selected through available sampling method; then, 15 people in experimental group (relaxation and drug therapy) and 15 people in control group (drug therapy) were assigned randomly. The instruments used in this study were demographic questionnaire, Niwton’s infertility questionnaire and spermogram test results. The entry conditions to the study were: 25 to 40 age range, no previous use of sedative drugs, no previous experience of relaxation, being infertile over one year, and not using drugs. Clomiphene Citrate and Zinc Plus were prescribed by the urologists for both groups. Stress pretest was conducted before the psychological intervention and drug therapy for each group. Then, stress posttest was conducted after ending the psychological intervention and before conducting the spermogram test.
Covariance analysis indicated that infertile males in the experimental group (relaxation training with drug therapy) in comparison with the control group (drug therapy) showed more reduction in the rate of stress. Moreover, according to the spermogram results, the rate of sperm motility in 73.33% of the experimental group (11 people) increased to over 50% and the number of sperms in 67% of them (10 people) increased to more than 20 million. In the control group that continued the drug therapy, the rate of sperm motility in 46.66% (7 people) was over 50% and the number of sperms in 60% (9 people) increased to more than 20 million.
According to the results of this study, Benson relaxation method decreased stress and increased motility and the number of sperms. Therefore, fertility scientists are recommended to apply Benson relaxation method as an adjunctive therapy beside drug therapy to get desired outcomes.