Stress for pregnant woman
Stress and pregnancy | March of Dimes
Stress is a common feeling during pregnancy. Physical discomforts and other changes in your daily life can cause stress during pregnancy.
Some types of stress may cause serious health problems, like high blood pressure, and lead to problems like premature birth.
Learn about ways to help manage some stresses in your life like talking to your health care provider and asking your partner, friends or family for help.
How can stress affect your pregnancy?
Feeling stressed is common during pregnancy because pregnancy is a time of many changes. Your family life, your body and your emotions are changing. You may welcome these changes, but they can add new stresses to your life.
High levels of stress that continue for a long time may cause health problems, like high blood pressure and heart disease. During pregnancy, stress can increase the chances of having a premature baby (born before 37 weeks of pregnancy) or a low-birthweight baby (weighing less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces). Babies born too soon or too small are at increased risk for health problems.
What causes stress during pregnancy?
The causes of stress are different for every woman, but here are some common causes during pregnancy:
- You may be dealing with the discomforts of pregnancy, like morning sickness, constipation, being tired or having a backache.
- Your hormones are changing, which can cause your mood to change. Mood swings can make it harder to handle stress.
- You may be worried about what to expect during labor and birth or how to take care of your baby.
- If you work, you may have to manage job tasks and prepare your team for when you take maternity leave.
- You may worry about how you eat, drink and feel and how these things affect your baby.
What types of stress can cause pregnancy problems?
Stress is not all bad. When you handle it right, a little stress can help you take on new challenges.
Regular stress during pregnancy, such as work deadlines, probably don’t add to pregnancy problems.
However, serious types of stress during pregnancy may increase your chances of certain problems, like premature birth. Most women who have serious stress during pregnancy can have healthy babies. But talk to your health care provider if you have these types of stress:
- Negative life events. These are things like divorce, serious illness or death in the family, or losing a job or home.
- Catastrophic events. These include earthquakes, hurricanes or terrorist attacks.
- Long-lasting stress. This type of stress can be caused by having problems with money, being abused, being homeless or having serious health problems.
- Depression or anxiety. Depression is a medical condition that causes feelings of sadness and a loss of interest in things you like to do. It can affect how you feel, think and act and can interfere with your daily life.
It needs treatment to get better. Anxiety is a feeling of worry or fear of things that may happen. Both conditions may make it hard to take care of yourself and your baby. Depression and anxiety are common and treatable so talk to your provider if you feel depressed or anxious. If you have these conditions before pregnancy, talk to your provider before stopping or starting any medications. Quitting suddenly can cause serious problems for you and your baby. If you need to stop taking medicine or switch medicines, your health care provider can help you make changes safely. - Neighborhood stress. Some women may have stress from living in a neighborhood with poverty and crime.
- Racism. Some women may face stress from racism during their lives. This may help explain why African-American women in the United States are more likely to have premature and low-birthweight babies than women from other racial or ethnic groups.
- Pregnancy-related stress.
Some women may feel serious stress about pregnancy. They may be worried about pregnancy loss, the health of their baby or about how they’ll cope with labor and birth or becoming a parent. If you feel this way, talk to your health care provider.
How does stress cause pregnancy problems?
We don’t completely understand the effects of stress on pregnancy. But certain stress-related hormones may play a role in causing certain pregnancy complications. Serious or long-lasting stress may affect your immune system, which protects you from infection. This can increase the chances of getting an infection of the uterus. This type of infection can cause premature birth.
Other ways stress can cause pregnancy problems include:
- Normal pregnancy discomforts, like trouble sleeping, body aches and morning sickness may feel even worse with stress
- You may have problems eating, like not eating enough or eating too much. This can make you underweight or cause you to gain too much weight during pregnancy.
It also may increase your risk of having gestational diabetes and preterm labor. - Stress may lead to high blood pressure during pregnancy. This puts you at risk of a serious high blood pressure condition called preeclampsia, premature birth and having a low-birthweight infant.
- Stress also may affect how you respond to certain situations. Some women deal with stress by smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol or taking street drugs, which can lead to serious health problems in you and you baby.
Many women worry that stress may lead to miscarriage, the death of a baby before 20 weeks of pregnancy. While extra stress isn't good for your overall health, there's no evidence that stress causes miscarriage.
How can post-traumatic stress disorder affect pregnancy?
Post-traumatic stress disorder (also called PTSD) is a disorder that develops when you have problems after you experience a shocking, scary or dangerous event. These events may include rape, abuse, a natural disaster, a terrorist attack or the death of a loved one.
People with PTSD may have:
- Serious anxiety
- Flashbacks of the event
- Nightmares
- Physical responses (like a racing heartbeat or sweating) when reminded of the event
Women who have PTSD may be more likely than women without it to have a premature or low-birthweight baby.They also are more likely than other women to have risky health behaviors, such as smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, abusing medications or taking street drugs. Doing these things can increase the chances of having pregnancy problems. If you think you may have PTSD, talk to your provider or a mental health professional. Treatments for PTSD include medications and therapy.
Can high levels of stress in pregnancy affect your baby’s health later in life?
Some studies show that high levels of stress in pregnancy may cause certain problems during childhood, like having trouble paying attention or being afraid.It’s possible that stress also may affect your baby’s brain development or immune system.
How can you reduce stress during pregnancy?
Here are some ways to help you reduce stress:
- Know that the discomforts of pregnancy are only temporary. Ask your provider about how to handle these discomforts.
- Stay healthy and fit. Eat healthy foods, get plenty of sleep and exercise (with your provider’s OK). Exercise can help reduce stress and also helps prevent common pregnancy discomforts.
- Cut back on activities you don’t need to do. For example, ask your partner to help with chores around the house.
- Try relaxation activities, like prenatal yoga or meditation. They can help you manage stress and prepare for labor and birth.
- Take a childbirth education class so you know what to expect during pregnancy and when your baby arrives. Practice the breathing and relaxation methods you learn in your class.
- If you’re working, plan ahead to help you and your employer get ready for your time away from work. Use any time off you may have to get extra time to relax.
The people around you may help with stress relief too. Here are some ways to reduce stress with the help of others:
- Have a good support network, which may include your partner, family and friends. Or ask your provider about resources in the community that may be helpful.
- Figure out what’s making you stressed and talk to your partner, a friend, family or your provider about it.
- If you think you may have depression or anxiety talk to your provider right away. Getting treatment early is important for your health and your baby’s health.
- Ask for help from people you trust. Accept help when they offer. For example, you may need help cleaning the house, or you may want someone to go with you to your prenatal visits.
Last reviewed: October, 2019
Stress and pregnancy | Pregnancy Birth and Baby
Stress and pregnancy | Pregnancy Birth and Baby beginning of content4-minute read
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Being pregnant can bring up a range of emotions for you, including feeling anxious or stressed, but this is completely normal.
Stress is a normal reaction to a major change (such as pregnancy). In some cases, stress may even be good for people because it can push them to take action in the face of new challenges. However, too much stress can be overwhelming and could even lead to health problems both for you and your baby.
What can cause stress in pregnancy?
For some women, finding out that they are pregnant can be a stressful experience in itself. You could feel like you have lost control or don’t have enough resources to manage what you’ll be experiencing. Stress can come from having a pregnancy that is unplanned, or becoming pregnant after previous negative experiences with a pregnancy, birth or motherhood, such as a miscarriage or the death of a baby.
It can be stressful while waiting for the results of your antenatal tests, and dealing with the physical changes of pregnancy or a complicated pregnancy.
The situation at home may cause stress, such as being a single parent or teenager and wondering how you will cope, or experiencing relationship difficulties, which could include family violence.
Pregnancy can lead to practical challenges, such as financial difficulties, moving house and job changes.
Emotional stresses, such as grief, such as a death in the family, past anxiety, depression or other mental illness, can cause more stress during pregnancy, as can drug and alcohol problems.
If more than one of the above are happening to you at the same time, you could experience even more stress.
How can stress affect my baby and me?
Chronic (ongoing) stress can affect your own health or wellbeing, and can include experiencing headaches, problems sleeping, fast breathing and a racing pulse.
Some people might also experience:
- obsessive thoughts
- worry or anxiety
- anger
- eating problems (too much or too little food, or the wrong types of food)
- trouble relaxing or winding down
Chronic stress could also cause problems for your baby. These can include effects on your unborn baby’s growth and the length of gestation (your pregnancy).
They can also increase the risk of problems in your baby’s future physical and mental development, as well as behavioural issues in childhood.
Reducing stress while you are pregnant
It’s important to look after your mental wellbeing during pregnancy, just as it’s important to look after your physical health. When you are feeling well, content and happy, you are better able to manage stress. When your stress is managed, it is not likely to have any serious effects on you or your baby.
To reduce stress, you could try the following:
- Pay attention to the triggers that make you stressed and notice what happens when you feel stressed.
- Try to slow down, rest and don’t put too much pressure on yourself.
- Eat a healthy, well-balanced diet to help keep you and your baby healthy.
- Talk to someone you trust about your concerns and how you’re feeling.
Physical activity and relaxation can also help to reduce stress:
- Take part in regular exercise, suitable for pregnancy.
- Do yoga, meditation, breathing, or relaxation through classes, or using apps, videos or podcasts.
- Engage in a favourite distraction activity such as reading, watching TV or a hobby.
- Spend time with people who make you feel calm.
You don’t need to cope on your own. Try to ask for help when you need it and accept people’s offers to help you.
Further help
If you need more help to manage your stress, you can contact:
- your GP, who can help you or refer you to a psychologist or counsellor
- your obstetrician or midwife
- PANDA (Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Australia) on 1300 726 306
- Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636
Sometimes the health professionals you talk with may not have enough time to answer all of your questions or talk through all of your concerns. If you need to discuss any issues further, call Pregnancy, Birth and Baby on 1800 882 436 to speak to a maternal child health nurse for advice and support.
Sources:
Beyond Blue (What to expect during pregnancy), Centre for Community Child Health (The First Thousand Days - an evidence paper), Australian Family Physician (Chronic stress), Centre of Perinatal Excellence (Stress & relaxation strategies in pregnancy), Raising Children Network (Stress and pregnancy)Learn more here about the development and quality assurance of healthdirect content.
Last reviewed: June 2020
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- Yoga and Pilates during pregnancy
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Pregnancy stress threatens the health of the unborn child - DW - 11/07/2013
ScienceEurope
Vladimir Fradkin
November 7, 2013
It is well known that severe stress is harmful Now scientists have taken up the question of how the stress experienced by the mother during pregnancy affects the health of the child.
https://p.dw.com/p/1ADc4
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Pregnancy, even if it is not the first, is, of course, quite stressful in itself. But even if this were not so, hardly any woman manages to avoid the stress caused by various events of everyday life for all nine months. And therefore, almost any expectant mother asks the question: how will the stress she experiences affect the child? Can the fear, pain, grief, irritation, or arousal of the mother be transmitted to the fetus in the womb? nine0003
Mother's stress hormone in the blood of the embryo
Not only can be transmitted, but are necessarily transmitted, although, of course, still not in full, doctors say. The placenta contains a number of hormones designed to protect the fetus from the harmful effects of cortisol, the mother's stress hormone. But it still penetrates into the blood of the embryo. True, there its concentration is about 10 times lower than the maternal one, however, it is also enough to have a significant effect on the fetal body.
And not just significant, but long-term, often even permanent. This conclusion was reached by a group of doctors led by Professor Matthias Schwab (Matthias Schwab) from the Hans Berger Neurological Clinic at the University Hospital of Jena. The scientists reported the results of their research at the 21st annual session of the German Somnological Society, which took place in Wiesbaden.
"Prenatal stress leads to a long-term increase in fetal cortisol levels and accelerates brain maturation," says Prof. Schwab, head of the Intrauterine Brain Development and Later Life Programming of Disease Working Group. pregnancy is a serious risk factor that increases the likelihood of a child developing later depression and other pathologies. nine0003
Dreams of a lamb in the womb of a sheep
Professor Schwab and his colleagues carried out their experiments on sheep, since in these animals the course of pregnancy and the formation of the embryo have a significant similarity with the same processes in humans. Pregnant - that is, pregnant - sheep, the researchers injected betamethasone, a synthetic glucocorticoid drug related to cortisol, which is often prescribed to women with the threat of premature birth. This drug speeds up the development of the lungs in the fetus, which increases the chances of a premature baby to survive. Betamethasone was administered to pregnant sheep at a stage corresponding in pregnant women to the period between the 25th and 32nd weeks. nine0003
At the same time, scientists monitored the intrauterine brain activity of embryos using electroencephalography. It turned out that betamethazole accelerates the maturation of not only the lungs, but also the brain, says Professor Schwab: “This is evidenced, first of all, by the early appearance of dreams. Usually, the formation of dreams occurs in the last third of pregnancy, and this development occurs very gradually. And betamethasone literally includes there is some kind of toggle switch in the brain, and dreams are formed in 2-4 days. " nine0003
Brain development inhibits cell growth and division
Another consequence of hormone administration was an abnormally frequent alternation of REM and non-REM sleep phases. This fragmentation of sleep, if it becomes permanent, indicates a high risk of developing depression later in life and, according to Professor Schwab, is often diagnosed in newborns whose mothers experienced severe stress during pregnancy.
The problem is that the premature maturation of the brain structures occurs due to a slowdown in cell division and body growth, the scientist says. This is confirmed by other doctors. “Children given injections to accelerate lung maturation showed a very significant increase in stress axis activity and had a markedly lower birth weight,” says Thorsten Braun, a gynecologist at the Charite University Hospital in Berlin. nine0003
Therapy with betamethasone is fraught with behavioral problems
In Germany, 8 to 10 percent of pregnant women receive betamethasone. The fact that this drug reduces mortality among premature babies by 31 percent has long been scientifically proven. However, animal experiments have shown that taking the drug also causes long-term side effects - in particular, hypertension - and also contributes to the development of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes in later life.
As far as humans are concerned, scientists have found, first of all, an increased risk of developing depression and behavioral anomalies. Recently, Professor Schwab and his colleagues examined 40 eight-year-old children who had previously undergone intrauterine therapy with betamethasone. Comparing the test results of these children with the test results of children in the control group revealed significant differences, the scientist emphasizes: ". Electroencephalography also showed that these children could not relax before testing, and could not concentrate during testing. nine0003
There is no reason to panic
Apparently, the increased content of the stress hormone in the blood at the stage of prenatal development leads to the fact that the body of the embryo gets used to this situation and begins to perceive it as the norm. "These babies are already programmed in the womb to produce too much of the stress hormone later in life," says Professor Schwab.
Dutch colleagues of a German scientist - physicians of the University of Tilburg - found that maternal stress affects the fetus most negatively between the 12th and 22nd weeks of pregnancy: its consequences make themselves felt even 20 years later. nine0003
But there is still no need to panic, says Prof. Schwab: "Stress during pregnancy is completely normal. And injections of betamethasone, this hormonal booster of lung development, are an important and necessary therapy if there are indications for it. You just need to keep in mind that an elevated level of stress hormone in the blood of the embryo appears to play a more important role in the development of later diseases than has been previously believed.
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stress during pregnancy
Expecting a baby is a positive time in a woman's life. However, the mother-to-be experiencing very strong physical and psychological stress. therefore Stress during pregnancy is a common occurrence that can reflect on the child. nine0003
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How stress affects pregnancy
The causes of stress can be different. Against the background of hormonal changes, weight gain, stress on the internal organs, the expectant mother feels the usual things differently - more anxious, acute and restless.
Sometimes it also happens that severe stress during pregnancy is provoked by objective factors: lack of support from loved ones, frequent problems at work, financial difficulties, difficult family situations. nine0003
A pregnant woman needs a calm atmosphere, a sense of security, security, positive emotions. Any fears, worries, anxieties can provoke stress in pregnant women, which may be accompanied by the following symptoms:
- Insomnia and sleep problems;
- Apathy, lethargy, indifference to everything;
- Decreased performance;
- Loss of appetite;
- Constant restlessness;
- Palpitations, dizziness;
Tremor of the limbs (trembling), colds.
If at least 1–2 manifestations are present, it is necessary to deal with stress in order to avoid the consequences for the woman's health - the development of acute and chronic depression, neuropsychiatric disorders. It is also important to exclude stress during pregnancy in order to avoid a negative impact on the unborn baby.
Consequences for the child nine0003
Frequent stress in the mother threatens with dangerous conditions in the fetus: hypoxia, anomalies in the formation of the nervous system. There is also a risk of preterm birth.
The child may develop:
- Hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder;
- Impulsivity, neurotic pathologies;
- Psychopathy and childhood autism;
- Psychosomatic diseases;
- Phobias and fears, obsessions; nine0089
- Asthma, allergy, neurodermatitis;
- Speech disorders.
The consequences can also be expressed in addictions, difficulties in communication and socialization, unstable self-esteem, demonstrative behavior.
How can a pregnant woman calm down when stressed?
An integrated approach will help to survive constant anxiety. Pay attention to the diet and daily routine - most often these factors have a very strong influence on a woman's well-being. nine0003
Eat right: include fatty fish, vegetables and fruits, nuts, dairy products, eggs, greens in your diet.
Approved products
You can additionally drink Magnesium B6 - it helps to calm down and generally has a beneficial effect on the nervous system. It is often prescribed during pregnancy in the first trimester to relieve the tone of the uterus, and in the third trimester to eliminate cramps in the calf muscles. Magnesium can be taken at any time. nine0003
Herbs are allowed for pregnant women from the first trimester: chamomile, linden, oregano, lemon balm. Gathering will help you calm down and get through difficult times easier. Pharmacies sell ready-made soothing teas that can be used by pregnant women.
Of the drugs, expectant mothers can take glycine. It helps to cope with irritability, normalizes sleep, emotional stability, cerebral circulation.
How to beat stress during pregnancy
In addition to nutrition, taking approved medications, it is important to establish a psychological state. This will help relieve anxiety and other manifestations of frequent stress during pregnancy.
Helpful hints:
- Breathe fresh air by walking for at least 30 minutes daily. Physical activity is good for the heart, blood vessels, saturates the blood with oxygen. Hiking - prevention of hypoxia in the fetus.
- Relaxation and meditation techniques can help you deal with stress. Master at least one and spend at least 10 minutes daily on it. Get creative - whatever you love to do. nine0089
- Communicate with friends and people you like - the positive emotions of the mother work wonders and are useful for the baby.
- Try not to overwork at work, if possible - ask to be transferred to remote work.
Take a lunch break with a workout. Refrain from working at night.
- Distract from any negativity that threatens your well-being - do not communicate with rude and unpleasant people, refuse to visit unpleasant places. nine0089
- Learn breathing techniques. Learn to breathe slowly, deeply. The exhalation should be longer than the inhalation. If you have time, sign up for yoga - it's a great way to deal with the manifestations of stress.
- More often watch interesting and pleasant films with a good ending - they give a good mood. Also read spiritual books.
- Imagine yourself and your baby in a positive atmosphere - visualize what a great mother you are, how all the difficulties and problems are left behind. nine0089
- Control your thoughts - don't let yourself wait for something bad. Reassure yourself that your pregnancy and childbirth will go well. If that doesn't work, see a psychotherapist.
Don't be afraid to ask for help. Remember that you are on an important mission - to give the world a new life. Even frequent appeals to a husband, mother, girlfriend should not cause feelings of guilt. Truly close people will understand and support.
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