Stress during pregnancy: 5 ways to relax

Pregnancy is a special period, accompanied by fireworks of emotions that are not always positive. Difficulties at work, problems in the family, bad tests... This list of reasons for worrying is different for every pregnant woman. And only a few can boast of composure and absolute “immunity” to stress. Severe nervous tension negatively affects not only the psycho-emotional state of a woman, but can also complicate the course of childbirth or affect the formation of the fetus. Let's figure out what the causes of stress during pregnancy are in order to take control of the situation in time, and how stress during pregnancy is dangerous for a woman and her baby.

Stress during pregnancy: what is it?

When a woman says “I’m stressed!”, most likely she is upset, scared, or outraged about something. But this is not an accurate description of the term “stress” and is more typical of its one type - neuropsychic stress.

From a scientific point of view, stress is an emotional disturbance of a negative nature, which can be provoked by a variety of factors, for example, hunger, cold, photophobia or other phobias.

During pregnancy, short-term emotional stress is more common, which often resembles a storm of negative emotions. It rarely leads to systemic disorders during pregnancy and is manifested exclusively by bad mood.

Chronic stress or distress during pregnancy is more dangerous. This condition occurs against a background of prolonged nervous tension. Such “harmful” stress often disrupts the functioning of the entire body, affecting the hormonal levels, immune function and well-being of a pregnant woman.

Stress develops gradually. The first phase is the activation of the female body in response to overstrain of the nervous system. Then the second phase gradually begins - active resistance to the situation that has arisen. If stress drags on, the third phase begins - global exhaustion of the female body with subsequent complications. As a result, a woman may develop an infectious disease, worsen a chronic pathology, or develop a nervous disorder.

What to do when stressed?

1 Treat yourself to something delicious. For most people, food is the main method of dealing with stress. But this does not mean that any troubles in life need to be “eat up” with cakes and other sweets. Especially given the fact that a woman needs to carefully monitor her diet during pregnancy.

The group of food antidepressants, contrary to popular belief, does not include chocolates, ice cream or jam. The ability to improve mood is inherent in products containing B vitamins, manganese and vitamin C.

Interesting! Amniotic fluid and its significance during pregnancy

Such products are fish, nuts, lean meat (chicken, turkey, rabbit), cottage cheese, natural yogurt, red fruits (apples, pomegranates), berries and dried fruits. These products will not only help improve the mother’s mental state, but will also be very beneficial for the baby.

2 Love and be loved. Scientific experiments have shown that single women are most often exposed to stress. Moreover, a woman can feel lonely even if she is married.

It is important to understand that it is not so much sex that can help get rid of stress, but a feeling of complete understanding in the family. Don’t isolate yourself: you need to share your experiences and thoughts with your other half.

Going together to a film screening, theater or exhibition is a good way to forget about everyday problems and worries. New experiences experienced together will definitely put both you and your life partner in a good mood.

3 An interesting hobby is the best cure for stress. Many women begin to discover new talents in themselves during maternity leave or pregnancy. If at the usual pace of life we ​​do not always have time for creativity, then right now you can do something exciting and enjoyable.

The expectant mother can attend master classes, during which the teacher will give you basic knowledge about a particular form of art in an accessible form. In addition, at such courses you can find new acquaintances: communication with interesting creative people always leaves a positive impression.

By creating something with your own hands, you will be distracted from negative thoughts. The fruits of your creativity will also be an excellent decoration for the interior of your home.

4 Healthy sleep and proper daily routine. Physical fatigue also has a negative effect on the nervous system. Therefore, it is so important for pregnant women to maintain a normal daily routine. Go to bed no later than 22-23 hours. It is during these hours that the body restores its strength as much as possible. Sleep started later is less effective.

And the ideal time to wake up would be 6-7 am. Sleeping too much is no less harmful to health.

5 Work on yourself. There is a certain category of people who can literally invent problems for themselves.

If you also have this property, try right now to strictly forbid yourself from thinking about bad things.

Give yourself a session of positive auto-training. Relax, tune in to a positive mood. And you will understand that all fears and worries are just a figment of your wild imagination. And your favorite aromas and calm, pleasant music, sounds of nature or even mantras will be excellent helpers for relaxation.

Stress during pregnancy - causes and development features

During the gestational period, stress follows a certain scenario. It leads to stimulation of hormonal processes, which leads to pathological synthesis of glucocorticoids and catecholamines. This leads to the destruction of glucose in the pregnant woman’s body and a short-term jump in blood sugar. The body immediately reacts to this by synthesizing excess insulin, which utilizes sugar, which provokes unscheduled heat formation. Then, to “rest”, the body reduces insulin production, which is often called transient functional type diabetes.

But the influence of nervous stress during pregnancy on a woman’s health does not end there. In conditions of insulin deficiency, the synthesis of sugars from amino acids starts. But their reserve in a woman’s body is limited, so to obtain energy, the body also begins to break down fats. The product of their breakdown is ketones, which cause general intoxication. As a result, the brain, muscle tissue, and heart suffer. Often this condition is accompanied by severe oxygen starvation.

Repeated repetition of such a stress algorithm leads to a decrease in thyroid function, disruption of the nervous system and immunity. Such disorders can affect the development of the fetus, so it is unwise to ignore frequently recurring stress.

What can cause severe stress during pregnancy? First of all, stress is triggered as a result of acute anxiety, the source of which can be:

• Fear for the baby. While he is quietly developing in the mother’s tummy, the woman is unable to somehow influence his well-being or find out if everything is okay. It is especially difficult for women who have experienced miscarriage and loss of a baby in the past.
• Fear of future motherhood. Mild anxiety when thinking about the upcoming meeting with the baby and his future upbringing often occurs in women. But sometimes this excitement develops into a real test for the female nervous system and it is impossible to avoid severe stress.
• Contact with the outside world. Endless tests and queues in medical institutions, nervous passengers on the subway, a rude saleswoman in a supermarket - this is just the tip of the iceberg of possible provocateurs of stress during pregnancy.
• Work misunderstandings. The teachings of a disgruntled manager and unfriendly colleagues are perfect conditions for chronic stress. And if we also take into account toxicosis, frequent delays due to regular examinations by a gynecologist and the inability to concentrate on work, then it becomes obvious that stress at work during pregnancy occurs very often.
• Shock situations. Pregnancy does not exclude tragic turns in life. Anything can happen: divorce, dismissal, death of relatives in an accident, unplanned move.
• Family environment. If the climate in the family is bad, conflicts often occur and misunderstandings are constantly present, there are uncomfortable living conditions, then emotional discomfort is guaranteed.

On a note! Excessive impressionability, suspiciousness and lack of support from loved ones only aggravate the impact of stress on pregnancy.

Symptoms of stress

Popular wisdom says: “You need to know the enemy by sight.” Very often, a woman becomes so accustomed to external stimuli that a state of constant stress becomes almost normal for her. But this does not mean at all that she has developed a kind of immunity - the nervous system and health in general are gradually being undermined from the inside and the destructive consequences of stress will certainly appear later.

Any person, and especially a pregnant woman, who is responsible not only for herself, but also for a new life in herself, needs to be able to analyze her condition and clearly understand what exactly indicates the presence of stress:

• decreased performance, fatigue;
• insomnia;
• lack of appetite;
• high blood pressure;
• nervousness;
• apathy;
• dizziness;
• trembling (tremor) of the limbs;
• cardiopalmus.

Several of the above symptoms together indicate that the situation is serious and needs to be corrected.

How to understand that you are stressed during pregnancy - symptoms

You can tell that a woman is stressed by her emotional outburst. However, some women experience stress silently and do not know it themselves.

The first signs of stress in a pregnant woman are considered to be:

• sleep disturbance (insomnia or, conversely, a constant desire to take a nap);
• obvious changes in appetite (refusal to eat or binge eating);
• inability to work fully (fatigue, memory loss, lethargy);
• groundless fears or worries;
• signs of depressive mood (apathy, feeling of hopelessness, detachment);
• panic attacks (fear of leaving the house, lack of air);
• deterioration of health (tachycardia, hypertension, dizziness, dyspepsia);
• obvious decrease in immunity.

Important! Such a complex of symptoms in a pregnant woman is a good reason to refer her to a psychologist.

How stress affects pregnancy

Minor physiological stress often occurs during pregnancy due to hormonal changes and pregnancy companions such as vomiting, headache, and weakness. This often makes the woman nervous and emotionally tense, but there is no negative effect on the fetus. In other cases, when stress is caused by external stimuli, and the woman experiences a deep emotional shock, the consequences for her and her baby can be disastrous.

Stress during pregnancy: consequences for the child

The first weeks of pregnancy are decisive, so the best thing that loved ones can do is to protect the pregnant woman from stress. It can affect pregnancy and the baby in two ways:

• On the one hand, during the first few weeks the baby is still microscopically small and reliably protected from the influence of stress. “Stress” hormones do not enter the fertilized egg even after its implantation, since until the 10th week the placenta is not yet functioning, and there are no ways for them to enter the baby’s blood.
• On the other hand, the first trimester is the time of formation of organ inclinations. And the presence of stress during early pregnancy worsens the functioning of a woman’s hormonal system and metabolic processes. Therefore, it is very difficult to predict how this will affect embryonic development.

Interesting! American scientists who studied the nature of the development of autism made an interesting discovery. It turned out that women who carried a baby in conditions of constant stress had twice the risk of having an autistic baby than women who did not experience this condition.

Stress during pregnancy in the second trimester is no longer as dangerous for a woman as in the first. But in relation to the baby, everything changes exactly the opposite. For him, this period is very important, because the development of the organs and systems established in the first trimester is in full swing, and any negative factors can disrupt this process. Of course, the baby will not have any serious developmental abnormalities, but the following disorders may occur:

1. Hypoxia and complications after it. Under the influence of stress, uteroplacental blood flow is disrupted. If measures are not taken in time, the baby continues to develop in conditions of deficiency of oxygen and important substances. As a result, the newborn may experience neurological disorders, he may have too low weight, and poor Apgar scores.
2. The birth of a premature baby. Stress is like a catalyst for uterine hypertonicity. If a woman experiences a severe shock before the 22nd gestational week, she may experience a miscarriage, and if after this period, premature birth. A premature baby may have developmental delays or neurological disorders in the future.

On a note! Babies whose intrauterine development took place in a stressful environment are prone to provoking conflicts after birth and are often mentally unstable.

After the 28th gestational week, the mother’s stress does not affect the baby’s physical development. But the fetus is already able to empathize with the mother and also experiences a kind of stress. This condition often provokes such correctable disorders in the newborn as poor sleep, refusal to eat, frequent regurgitation, and increased muscle tone.

Stress during pregnancy: consequences for women

If stress in the early stages is not dangerous for a baby, then for a woman it can become a serious reason for grief:

1. Worsening of toxicosis. Even moderate stress can turn mild nausea into uncontrollable vomiting. Drowsiness, dehydration also occur, and blood counts deteriorate. This often causes hospitalization.
2. Hormonal imbalance. Hormones are the first to respond to stress. Depending on the condition of the female body, this can cause unsuccessful implantation of the embryo or improper fixation of the fertilized egg in the uterus. Often, a fertilized cell, without attaching to the endometrium, leaves the uterus along with menstrual blood.
3. Hypertonicity of the uterus. The connection between increased uterine tone and anxiety has long been established. Therefore, stress often causes the threat of miscarriage.
4. Freezing of the fetus. Very often, a frozen pregnancy occurs due to stress.

Advice! If you notice bloody discharge or abdominal pain after a nervous shock, consult a doctor immediately.

The second trimester of pregnancy is the most comfortable period for a woman. Toxicosis is already behind us, and the delights of the third trimester in the form of clumsiness have not yet arrived. Therefore, there are no external reasons for stress. Since the emotional state in this period is elevated, minor irritants are unlikely to provoke strong feelings. But if something really serious happens, the stress will be very active.

On a note! For women, stress during this period is not dangerous, which cannot be said about the baby. Therefore, if you cannot cope with nerves, ask your doctor to prescribe mild sedatives.

Stress in the third trimester of pregnancy is not dangerous for the baby, but a woman may experience one of the following complications:

1. Premature delivery. The female body is designed in such a way that if sharp fluctuations in hormones begin at this stage and the tone of the uterus increases, it may decide that it is time to give birth.
2. Weakness of labor. The natural birth process is complex and involves many mechanisms of the hormonal system. If a woman was under stressful conditions during pregnancy, the likelihood of insufficient labor activity increases. Often you have to resort to stimulation and even caesarean section.
3. Incorrect position of the baby. The tone of the uterus caused by stress does not allow the fetus to take the correct position before birth. In such a situation, the birth process is accompanied by complications, which increases the risk of birth injuries in the child. Sometimes natural childbirth becomes impossible.

Hormonal reasons

According to the main version, it is believed that under stress, the body begins to produce an increased amount of the hormone prolactin, which in turn has a negative effect on the production of hormones important for ovulation such as luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). And it turns out that during stress there is a decrease in the production of these hormones. This, firstly, negatively affects the maturation of the egg, as a result of which ovulation is postponed to a later date or does not occur at all, and secondly, it can contribute to a decrease in the hormone estrogen in the body and, as a result, insufficient thickness of the endometrium. And this fact alone can lead to the impossibility of attachment of a fertilized egg to the wall of the uterus.

Men should not be discounted, because in their bodies these important hormones are responsible for maintaining normal levels of testosterone, which is responsible not only for potency, but also for spermatogenesis. From which we can conclude that disturbances in the production of LH and FSH due to stress in men can lead to a decrease in potency and the production of defective sperm with developmental abnormalities, as well as to a deterioration in other characteristics of seminal fluid. Naturally, this is not at all conducive to successful conception.

How to cope with stress during pregnancy

If you realize that you are under a lot of stress, calm down. Concentrate on the thought that the most important thing at the moment is not the problem that has arisen, but the health of your baby. Think about who among your loved ones can help you pull yourself together and ask for help. If you have no one to rely on, consult a psychologist.

If you are able to curb your feelings on your own, you can use the following tips:

1. Conquer your fears. If the cause of stress is fear for the baby, tell the doctor about it and undergo additional examination, if necessary. If the reason is something else, try to solve it in a similar way.
2. Find a passion. A hobby will distract you from bad thoughts and give you a lot of positivity.
3. Learn to pamper yourself. If you want something sweet, allow yourself one of the most delicious desserts. If you want to ride on a swing, don’t stop, because there’s a baby living inside you.
4. Let go of the fear of labor pain . Although women hide it, they are absolutely afraid of this pain. You need to come to terms with this, don’t stress yourself out and undermine your baby’s health with your stress.
5. Don't hide your pregnancy. Often women in the early stages do not advertise their position, and silently endure frequent reprimands from their boss for being late or poor performance. Tell him that you are pregnant, and he will understand your position. This way there will be at least one less stress in the first trimester of pregnancy.
6. Voice all your desires. Pregnancy is a time of whims and strange desires, so take advantage of this moment.

Take care of your pregnancy and don’t let stress harm your beloved baby. Tune in to the positive and get maximum pleasure, because pregnancy ends very quickly. And remember that the birth process, the health of your baby, and future lactation depend on your peace of mind.

Dangers Associated with Stress

Why is stress dangerous? Can a stressful situation cause any serious disturbances in the development of the fetus? Short-term stress during this period is unlikely to harm the woman or baby. Such conditions are even useful, as they prepare the body before childbirth and strengthen the child’s nervous system. But prolonged and deep stress is a completely different matter. Such conditions must be treated. Severe stress is especially dangerous in the early stages of pregnancy.

If the pregnant woman has suffered from stress, results may not appear immediately. Parents may notice any mental abnormalities in a child only during adolescence.

If a woman has experienced stress during pregnancy, the consequences can be identified both for herself and for the baby:

• children may be born with low birth weight;
• problems with adaptation to society in older age;
• if a stressful situation occurs in the late stages of pregnancy, then it can provoke anomalies in the formation of the fetal nervous system;
• autism;
• hyperactivity;
• over time, the mother or child may develop fears and phobias;
• urinary incontinence;
• the newborn may have a congenital external defect (for example, cleft palate);
• stress in the early stages affects the normal supply of oxygen to the fetus (can cause intrafetal hypoxia - this is one of the reasons for pregnancy failure);
• allergic or asthmatic manifestations in a newborn;
• diabetes;
• disruption of the cardiovascular system.

Stress during pregnancy also affects the health of the mother:

• premature birth;
• weak labor (contractions do not intensify, which may require drug stimulation of labor);
• development of a nervous disorder;
• miscarriage.

The consequences of stress during pregnancy can be a very serious test for both the mother and her child. To avoid this, it is important for a woman to learn to control her emotions, and for the people around her to try to create anti-stress conditions around her.