Stress during pregnancy and coping strategies

Pregnancy is a major experience in the life of females. It is exciting, fascinating, and many times frustrating. Prenatal period has been identified as risk factor for relapse of mental illness and a time of relative protection.

Stressed feeling is quite common during pregnancy as drastic physical and mental changes occur in pregnant women. But excessive stress can make woman uncomfortable. If pregnant women are undergoing too much stress, they may have trouble sleeping, experience headache, lose appetite or overeat.

In plethora of researches, it is found that extreme form of stress can lead to serious health issues during pregnancy as stress can cause the body to produce certain hormones that can bring on preterm labour or sometime trigger miscarriage. Excessive stress that last for longer duration may cause health problems such as high blood pressure and heart disease.

There are numerous reasons for experiencing stress during pregnancy but these are different for every woman.

Women feel discomforts of pregnancy such as nausea, constipation, being tired or having a backache. Their hormones change, which can lead to mood swing and women are unable to handle stress.

Women also worry about labour and birth or grooming new born baby.

For working women, stress level is a bit higher as they may have to manage job responsibilities along with managing household activities.

There are also emotional consequences of stress during pregnancy that can adversely impact on unborn baby. Maternal stress during pregnancy augments the risk of the child having array of altered neurodevelopmental outcomes.

There are warning signals of serious types of stress during pregnancy that may lead to serious problem like premature birth. Though, mostly women undergoing stress may give birth to healthy baby but some women cannot cope up with extreme stress and experience severe health issues. Therefore it is important to know serious types of stress when planning for pregnancy.

Stress level is high for those who have experienced negative life events such as divorce, serious illness or death in the family, or fear of losing job or home.

Some catastrophic events like earthquakes, hurricanes or terrorist attacks also trigger stress.

Women also have long-lasting stress due to financial problems, being abused, or being depressed. Depression is feelings of sadness last for long periods of time and avert a person to live a normal life.

Some pregnant women may suffer from stress from racism during their lives. Due to this females give birth to premature and low-birth weight.

It has been observed that many women may develop serious stress about pregnancy. They may be worried about miscarriage and the health of their baby. They need to consult treating doctor for assistance.

Stress management during pregnancy is important. Psychological studies have shown that stress reduction techniques may lessen the intensity of stress and risk of premature birth or low birth weight in babies. One of the powerful stresses reducing tactics is to get proper sleep. Sleeping allows brain to restore neurotransmitters that can become exhausted during wake hours. Another effective strategy to reduce stress is to do regular exercise. It helps to release endorphins and increase the blood flow in body. Meditation is spiritual form therapy to lessen the impact of stress on unborn baby.

To naturally treat the stress during pregnancy, women must explore the triggers that make them anxious. It is advised to take healthy diet and have proper rest. 

To encapsulate the strands of stress during pregnancy, it can be appraised that feelings of stress, anxiety or depression is normal psychological state of pregnant women and they naturally cope up with the help of family members as there are temporarily physical changes in body. But if stress is in severe form, it is a matter of concern and there is a need to visit doctor for relieving the stress. If pregnant women are exposed to great stress, such as during 9/11 terrorist attack, this can have an impact on baby’s developing brain.

Important: This article is developed through environmental information, academic experience and/ or personal view of writer. Writer is not responsible for any disagreement