The effects of stress during pregnancy

2023 Author: Anita Thornton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-07-31 02:08

The many positive and negative upheavals that occur in the life of a woman who learns that she will soon give birth bring about a series of changes in her body.

The following text presents in a clear and simple way these changes, as well as their consequences on the mother and her baby.

All the events that follow when a mother becomes pregnant cause her some concern. Several factors can vary the intensity of stress and therefore cause more or less damage. Among these factors, there are, among others, past pregnancy experiences, the socioeconomic situation of the parents and the pressure exerted by the mother's entourage. The other articles on our website will deal with some of these subjects in particular.

When a person experiences stress, a hormone is released in their body. A hormone is a chemical substance, produced by cells and sent into the bloodstream to exert a specific action on other cells. In a pictorial way, it is a kind of messenger who plays a role of communication inside the body. The most important stress hormone in humans is called cortisol andit is this that can have harmful effects, both in the mother and in the child she is carrying. To do this, the cortisol in the body must be at a level considered to be high, so the mother must be experiencing relatively sustained stress.

It is now recognized by most scientists and he alth professionals that stress has bad consequences on baby's he alth. Some are of the opinion that the impact of stress is worse during the first and second trimesters (thus the first 6 months of pregnancy), while others suggest that the impact is worse during the last 3 months. It is easy to deduce that in the best of worlds, it would be necessary to avoid as much as possible any kind of stress throughout the duration of the pregnancy. However, keep in mind that a certain amount of stress is completely normal and allows humans to adapt and evolve.

This video shows how the body works in response to stress. Although the animation deals above all with stress at work, the explanations on the mechanisms of stress mentioned at the beginning of the extract are just as valid for pregnant women.

The consequences on the fetus are as follows. First of all, the two main problems that scientists and he alth professionals agree on are prematurity and low birth weight babies. These two phenomena are often recognized to slow down the physical and psychological development of the child. For example, a babypremature may be smaller and frailer than average later in childhood, although there are other factors that come into play as well. The majority of studies report that gestation (the time the baby spends in the inside the mother's belly) would be shorter by a few days to a few weeks, and that the babies born would weigh less on average than the babies of mothers who had not experienced any particular stress. A study from Denmark involving more than 60,000 pairs of mothers and their child also showed that stress during pregnancy was associated with an increased risk of infectious diseases (eg ear infections) in the child. The child could develop other complications such as a behavioral, learning or attention problem.

It is therefore important to minimize the impact of intense stress as much as possible in order to prevent its consequences. Our website is a good tool to achieve this. It is also important to talk about it to those around you; Above all, do not isolate yourself. Your doctor can also help you with this.