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 dont have enough resources to manage what youll 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.
Sip On Peppermint Tea
Peppermint leaves contain menthol which acts as a muscle relaxant and sedative. Peppermint also helps remove gas from your stomach and resolve stomach issues like nausea and vomiting. Sipping on peppermint tea is a healthy, all-natural way to relieve stress during pregnancy. Keep some peppermint tea bags in your purse or briefcase so you can fight stress and tummy trouble wherever you are. Peppermint tea is naturally caffeine-free so you can sip on it all day at work or while lounging at home.
Anxiety And Your Baby
Well-meaning friends may have told you that you need to stop worrying because it isnt good for the baby. While their sentiment comes from a good place, you may feel like stopping the cycle is easier said than done. Still, research shows that there is good reason to get your anxiety under control.
High levels of anxiety during pregnancy are associated with a risk of developing conditions like preeclampsia, premature birth, and low birth weight.
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Choose The Optimal Time For Conception
According to some reports, the day of ovulation and 2-3 days before it is best for conception. To find out when ovulation occurs, a rapid urinary test for luteinizing hormone will help a day or two before ovulation, it will become positive. However, timing is not always the best option.
Fertility experts do not advise couples to calculate the optimal time for conception. As far as sex becomes scheduled, it transforms the life of a couple into one continuous stress. It is wiser to have sex 2-3 times a week throughout the cycle.
Dark Chocolate Is Good For You It Increases Serotonin Levels Which Improves Moods And Decreases Stress Levels
Treat yourself. You Deserve it. Have a massage.
Have a small piece of DARK chocolate every day for 2 weeks. A study has demonstrated that dark chocolate increases serotonin levels which improves moods and decreases stress levels.
Hire or go to a very funny Movie.
Meet up with friends and laugh a lot.
Most of all relax as much as possible.
TIP:Buy some bright nail varnish if you cant afford a pedicure and get you partner to paint your toe nails, if you cant reach your toes!
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Attend A Labor And Delivery Or Newborn Preparation Class
For some women, stress during pregnancy is caused by the unknowns of the future. Pregnant women may feel overwhelmed thinking about labor and delivery or caring for a newborn. To help ease your concerns, consider attending a class that is designed to help you prepare for birth or motherhood. Women who attend birthing classes report feeling more positive and confident about labor and delivery.13
Many hospitals, birthing centers, and local midwives and doulas host classes for this purpose. If there are no classes in your area, you may be able to find one online. Attending one of these classes will give you an opportunity to learn more about what to expect and answer any questions that you may have. This can help you feel more certain about the future and confident moving forward in your pregnancy.
Prenatal Emotional Stress Index
The Prenatal Emotional Stress Index is a self-report questionnaire assessing emotional stress during pregnancy . It was applied at the first measurement time to assess maternal emotional stress during pregnancy. retrospectively. The questionnaire consists of 11 items per pregnancy trimester measuring anxiety, sadness, joy, stress, and tension via visual analogous scales ranging from 0 to 100%. The scale values are the mean item responses per trimester. Cronbachs was = 0.91 for the first, = 0.92 for the second and = 0.93 for the third trimester, indexing excellent internal consistency. Average scores were M = 31.92 for the first, M = 30.41 for the second and M = 31.63 for the third trimester. The intercorrelations between pregnancy trimesters were as follows: the first trimester significantly correlated with the second and third trimester as well as the second trimester correlated significantly with the third trimester . A composite score averaged over the three trimesters was used for the analyses This composite score reached an excellent internal consistency and ranged from min = 2.42 to max = 86.97 .
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You’re Late And Now Stuck In Traffic
“This is the perfect situation to practice surrender.” says Trapani. “You can’t control the traffic, and you likely have no way to get out of it. Recognize that becoming tense and frustrated will not change or improve the situation.”
First, turn on a radio station or CD with calming music. Then take a moment to feel your hands on the steering wheel. Now, take a full breath in through your nose and let it out of your mouth with an audible sigh. Aaaah. Or, as you inhale, draw your shoulders up to your ears and say inside your head, It’s okay. When you exhale, let your shoulders drop and say to yourself, Let it go!
You can also visualize that you’re inhaling positive, light energy and exhaling all of your stressful energy. Repeat this exercise at least five times. Now just surrender to the situation.
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Do Some Moderate Exercises
This may not be how you relieve stress during early pregnancy. Most women dont have the energy to exercise during their first trimester. But usually, you get your energy back during the second trimester. So whenever you feel like it, try some moderate workouts. Even if you dont, make yourself a few times a week. Go on a walk. Swim a few laps in a pool. Bike around your neighborhood. Exercising releases endorphins. Endorphins not only reduce your perception of pain, but they also produce positive or feel good feelings.
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Extreme Anxieties Depression Support Groups
Being overly anxious and stressed all the time is unusual and only affects a very few pregnant women, but can cause problems. If you talk to your midwife or GP, they will help you, by referring you to a support group, counsellor or a psychotherapist.
Please get help when you are pregnant, as all the support can be set up for when you have given birth.
If you are taking medication for depression, talk to your midwife or GP if you are worried about any affects it has on your baby, but dont suddenly stop your medication.
Massage and aromatherapy can be very useful to alleviate stress and anxieties. Massage during pregnancy will not only benefit you, but your partner as well. This will make them feel part of the whole pregnancy and make you feel that you are not doing this on your own.
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Maternal Anxiety Symptoms: Agoraphobic Cognitions Questionnaire Body Sensations Questionnaire And The Mobility Inventory
Core symptoms of anxiety disorders at the 1st assessment and the 5-year follow-up were assessed with the German version of the Agoraphobic Cognitions Questionnaire , the Body Sensations Questionnaire and the Mobility Inventory . The three questionnaires combine cognitions, physical symptoms and avoidance behavior, all core symptoms of anxiety disorders. The ACQ consists of 14 questions about the frequency of typical anxiety cognitions with scales ranging from 1 to 5 . The BSQ consists of 17 items and measures the extent of fear of anxiety related physical symptoms from 1 to 5 . The MI consists of 27 items describing predominant agoraphobic situations and the avoidance of these situations. Moreover, it also indicates the severity of the anxious symptomatology. The MI is subdivided into the Mobility Inventory Alone and the Mobility Inventory Backened . In our sample, internal consistency ranged from Cronbachs = 0.88 to 0.95 MIA = 0.95 at 1st assessment and 0.94 at 5-year follow-up BSQ = 0.92 at both assessments. Thus, the internal consistency was comparable to the ones reported by the authors and can be evaluated as good to excellent.
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How To Relax Through Anxiety And Fear In Pregnancy After Miscarriage And Infertility
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If youve suffered a miscarriage and/or have struggled with infertility for years, becoming pregnant may be the greatest blessing of your life. But, it can also be terrifying.
Early pregnancy especially, can be filled with anxiety and worries about the potential for another miscarriage. Even if youve never had a miscarriage but youve suffered from infertility, you might be scared because you thought you werent capable of it and you worry something will happen.
In this post Im going to talk about why fear is completely normal and what to do about it- so you arent a basket-case your entire pregnancy.
Check out all my posts on pregnancy here.
Why Its Important To Manage Stress In Pregnancy
Managing stress is good for your health and your babys health during pregnancy and beyond. If you can manage stress, you can reduce your chance of premature birth and your babys chance of childhood health problems like asthma and allergies.
Also, when you manage stress, your pregnancy is likely to be a more positive experience overall.
If you have life stresses under control and stress management strategies in place during pregnancy, you might also be able to cope better with new stresses after birth. These new stresses include lack of sleep and the challenges of looking after a newborn. And for some new mums, they include the after-effects of a difficult birth and other complications.
Unlike some other lifestyle factors that youll be told to avoid during pregnancy for example, smoking and alcohol you cant get rid of all the stress in your life. But you can learn how to recognise and deal with stress. This can help you have a healthier pregnancy and manage life more easily once your baby is born.
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Tips For Reducing Stress During Pregnancy
If you are pregnant, it is likely that you will experience stress at some point. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to help yourself better cope with stress when it does come up. Taking care of your body and mind and seeking support and education are helpful ways that you can combat the impact of stress during your pregnancy.
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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.
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Avoid The Source Of Stress
Once you identify the true problems, you should begin to recognize the source of your stress. If its a colleague or your boss, it can be difficult to avoid your source of stress, but at least you can be better prepared and limit the interactions.
A little thing that you can do to help is cleaning up the clutter on your desk. Doing this can also help remove the clutter from your mind and help you feel as if you can breath better. If youre expecting, this is also the time to give up stressful volunteer tasks. People should understand that you have a lot going on now that youre pregnant so you need to take this time to relax and focus on you after busy workdays.
I also recommend that you not make any major changes in your life until after your baby is born. This can be a huge source of stress. For some reason every pregnant woman thinks its a great idea to move into a new house or do some big renovation to their current house or some type of major project. This can be a lot for you and your baby to handle. Also, beware of the holiday season. Were quickly approaching that time of the year and you really need to let someone else do the work. Save yourself the stress.
Stress And Negative Affective States In Pregnancy And Infant Or Child Outcomes
Evidence for effects of maternal stress, depression, and anxiety in pregnancy on adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes for the child is substantial , through a process known as `fetal programming’ . Research utilizing animal models indicates that maternal distress negatively influences long-term learning, motor development, and behavior in offspring . Evidence suggests that this occurs via effects on development of the fetal nervous system and alterations in functioning of the maternal and fetal hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axes . Maternal mood disorders have also been shown to activate the maternal HPA axis and program the HPA axis and physiology of the fetus . In short, a mother’s stress exposure and her affective states in pregnancy may have significant consequences for her child’s subsequent development and health . This evidence has been reviewed in many articles and spans effects on attention regulation, cognitive and motor development, fearful temperament, and negative reactivity to novelty in the first year of life behavioral and emotional problems and decreased gray matter density in childhood and impulsivity, externalizing, and processing speed in adolescents . Of note, many of these findings involve the effects of prenatal pregnancy anxiety on infant, child, or adolescent outcomes. Maternal stress has also been linked to major mental disorders in offspring .
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Ask For And Accept Help
Wanting to know how to stay stress-free during early pregnancy, or really any stage of pregnancy? Ask for help help with dinner, dishes, errands, or whatever. And dont feel bad asking. Your loved ones want to help you, but some may not know how to ask or what to help with. So if someone does offer their help, dont tell them no.
Return Stress To Its Rightful Owner
Some of the aggravation you feel is sometimes someone elses problem. Tell your partner that you cant go to every work event or entertain every client with him, tell a coworker to learn the system instead of always asking you, and start saying no to the other people who lean on you. Explain that you really need to take care of yourself for your baby and eliminating stress is a big part. You have more than enough on your plate so dont feel guilty to learn the art of saying no.
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Give Yourself A Break
This may be a perfect time to step back from many of the things you have said yes to in the past. For the future, you have a new focus in life, and it is time for someone else to take a turn at the above-and-beyond things you may have been doing for your family, job, and community. This is a time to relax so that you can be the parent you strive to be.
Dont worry about spotlessly cleaning your house or filling up your social schedule. You can politely say no to strenuous volunteering, overtime, or extra shifts. You can ask for help and accept it when it is offered! Giving back right now is giving forward, taking the best care of yourself, and letting go of any guilt you feel about spending time on personal wellness. Give yourself permission to relax.
Dont Turn Sex Into Hard Work
Ive been trying to get pregnant for two years, but it didnt work. There are no problems with gynecology. Maybe the cause of infertility is a bad relationship with my husband? He says he is tired of making children and that sex has become hard work. Because of this, we have arguments all the time.
Quarrels with your husband do affect conception. The body understands that the family situation is explosive, no time for children! Consequently, it blocks ovulation. Therefore, you need to think not of making a child quickly but restoring relationships with your husband first.
After all, forcing physical intimacy is a form of violence that nobody likes. In addition, by becoming overly assertive, active, aggressive, a woman can produce too much testosterone, which influences ovulation and prevents them from getting pregnant.
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