Many people know that the emotional state of a pregnant woman has a strong effect on the health of an unborn baby. In this case, the impact can be short-term or long-term, bring both benefit and harm. Stress during pregnancy is normal. But you need to understand what stressors have an impact, and take into account how a woman tolerates it.

Definition

Stress is the body's response to intense excitement. This means that the person was very frightened, surprised, upset or indignant. Medical professionals see this concept a little differently. What was presented above, namely mental confusion or nervous tension, refers to neuropsychological stress.

There are several main types:

• emotional;
• physiological;
• light;
• temperature;
• hungry;
• neuro-psychic.

That is, such a state can be caused by a variety of factors. Carrying a baby is a very responsible task, so every mother needs to know how stress affects pregnancy.

Peculiarities

When a woman is in an interesting position, a huge number of changes occur in her body, there are disturbances in metabolic processes, hormonal disruptions, so the organs function differently. Everything affects the expectant mother - not only the environment, but also other personal factors:

• a pregnant woman has rapid fatigue;
• limited freedom of action;
• there is constant irritation;
• there is constant fear for the child.

Symptoms

How stress during pregnancy affects a woman, all expectant mothers should know in order to avoid such a condition, since the fetus reacts very actively to all experiences. It should be noted that such problems can take place in several forms:

1. Acute - it flows quickly enough and ends in the same way.
2. Chronic - this is a sharp depressive state that lasts constantly.

Due to the fact that the girl is nervous, her body produces the following hormones:

• adrenalin;
• cortisol;
• norepinephrine.

This increases the tone of the uterus, significantly constricts blood vessels and raises blood pressure, as a result, the pregnant woman's heartbeat accelerates.

It is almost impossible to get an unambiguous answer to the question of how stress affects pregnancy, since a short-term emotional outburst is also the best workout for the body. But it is very important that such a condition does not develop into a chronic form. After all, if such shocks are constant, a woman may have problems with breathing, her skin will begin to turn pale, then blush. Also from the symptoms can be noted wet palms, greatly dilated pupils and pain that periodically occurs in the chest area.

In the case of a woman, she cannot restrain her emotions, she becomes fussy, absent-minded, she has problems with memory, appetite, headaches and eating disorders.

The reasons

It is already known whether stress affects pregnancy, so you need to know the factors that contribute to the appearance of the problem:

1. Lack of support from loved ones.
2. Continuous problems with sleep, because a woman gets tired so quickly during pregnancy.
3. Feeling of constant dissatisfaction with everything.
4. Nervous and difficult work or study at a university.

You need to know that severe stress is dangerous, as it can threaten the life of the fetus. It occurs when a woman worries about something for a long time and accumulates a huge amount of emotions in herself. Due to such troubles, the body cannot develop the required protection, therefore, such factors negatively affect the process of bearing the fetus.

How to relieve stress during pregnancy?

It is extremely important to get rid of nervous experiences in a timely manner. Although sometimes it is difficult to do, it is worth closing your eyes to the problems and thinking about the health of the unborn child. To overcome trouble, you need to strengthen your body:

1. As prescribed by the doctor, vitamin complexes should be taken. Especially necessary are vitamins C and E. With their support, you can not only strengthen the immune system, but also rejuvenate the entire body as a whole, as well as protect the nervous system. It has been proven that with the help of vitamin C, you can get rid of provocateurs that cause a feeling of panic. Thanks to vitamin B, the nervous system will be thoroughly protected, it can be easily found in marine products.
2. Having figured out how stress affects pregnancy, and realizing that this can leave a negative mark on the health of the baby and mother, you should perform specially designed yoga complexes that include breathing exercises, relaxation and simple physical exercises.
3. It is advisable to do your favorite thing as often as possible, knit, read, that is, calm your mind and be distracted from various problems.
4. Those who know how nervous stress affects pregnancy and how difficult it is sometimes to get rid of it, recommend seeking help from a psychologist if you cannot get out of this state for a long time. The doctor will advise effective methods, and the patient will feel better.
5. Pregnant women are calmed by listening to romantic and calm music.

Danger in different trimesters

Every woman who intends to become a mother should know how stress affects early pregnancy, because negative experiences can end in miscarriage. If problems catch a girl in the second or third trimester, then there is a threat to the mother herself. The vital major organs begin to strain, then the pressure rises, a large number of edema appears and it is possible to see protein in the urine. In the placenta, blood flow worsens and, as a result, the fetus will have a lack of oxygen.

Possible consequences

Why is stress dangerous during pregnancy? A similar question is asked by many girls to their doctors. The presence of additional experiences often leads to health problems for the baby. He can be absolutely healthy at birth, and troubles will begin to appear further. The most common disorders in children are:

• increased distraction of attention and activity, which further affects learning;
• problems with the speech apparatus, as well as difficulties in learning to write;
• phobias, fears, urinary incontinence, neuroses;
• weakness of the immune system and cardiovascular ailments, which provoke an increased susceptibility of the child to various diseases;
• the appearance of defects in appearance, which require surgical intervention to correct;
• autism and developmental problems.

Pathologies while carrying a fetus

As you can see, a woman needs to know how it affects during pregnancy, as well as how it affects the mother's condition:

1. Often there is a problem of hypoxia - lack of oxygen. Because of this, it is more difficult for a woman to endure and give birth to a healthy baby. In the most severe cases, suffocation and fetal death may occur.
2. In the placenta, blood circulation is disturbed, problems are formed with the exchange processes between the child and the mother. Therefore, the baby is born premature and late in development.
3. Childbirth is difficult, and the woman in labor quickly loses her strength.
4. Due to the fact that a woman constantly has fears, her pregnancy is disturbed. Sometimes everything ends even with a miscarriage. Girls are born much earlier, and they walk with boys.

Another indicator of how strong stress affects pregnancy is the threat of early discharge of amniotic fluid as a result of it, and this is quite dangerous for the life of the child.

Stress medications

Special psychotropic components for the treatment of stress are used extremely rarely and only at the moment when the adaptive mechanisms of the body are unable to cope with emotional stress. At the same time, the doctor will definitely weigh all the possible risks for both the baby and the mother and select the most harmless medicines.

Many drugs adversely affect the fetus and lead to the formation of malformations in the development and circulatory disorders. So, expectant mothers should understand that drops such as Barboval, Corvalol, Valocordin, which can be easily purchased at any pharmacy, are categorically contraindicated for pregnant women. Experts also do not recommend self-medication and taking combined herbal preparations - Nottu, Novo-Passit, Persen - since their effect on the fetus has not yet been fully studied.

The safest remedy is the preparation of valerian.

Prevention

How stress affects pregnancy is already known, so this condition is best avoided. There are several types of stress: moderate, which is standard for all women in labor, and strong, arising from mental shock leading to prolonged depression.

A factor for the appearance of the last stress can be a strong excitement or the loss of a loved one, work, property. Lack of attention, cynicism, rudeness, as well as sharp statements of doctors about any problems of a woman in labor lead to a similar state.

As a preventive measure, a pregnant woman can be offered to undergo special tests with a psychologist that show a predisposition to nervous shocks. Such a procedure should only be carried out by a specialist. Based on the results of the survey, a conclusion is drawn for psychologists and doctors to help the expectant mother.

Stress is the body's reaction to negative life factors. Usually, it does not harm a person, but helps to adapt, but only if it does not last long. Stress during pregnancy is considered very dangerous, and especially at an early stage of gestation.

Stress during pregnancy - how to calm down and not be nervous

An increase in the load on the psyche that a pregnant woman is exposed to can lead to health problems for both the expectant mother and the child. Therefore, a pregnant woman should protect herself from stress, and when its first symptoms appear, they should be quickly recognized and eliminated.

Symptoms of stress in pregnancy

Everyone is exposed to stress on a daily basis. He gets used to this state and does not try to prevent nervous shocks and their consequences. It is possible to determine that a pregnant woman has stress for several reasons:

• there is fatigue and loss of strength;
• performance decreases;
• poor sleep, trouble falling asleep;
• pain in the heart, rapid pulse;
• no desire to eat;
• frequent headaches and dizziness;
• increase in pressure;
• deterioration of immunity, the appearance of a cold, which lasts long enough.

Headache is a symptom of stress during pregnancy

Many people react to stress atypically. Tension can be manifested by discomfort in the stomach and intestines, a rash on the skin, and difficulty breathing.

Causes of stress in pregnancy

Stress during pregnancy appears for various reasons. It all depends on the lifestyle and the problems that may appear during the gestation period. In pregnancy, stress can manifest itself in different ways. For some, some problem may be mundane and will not create negative emotions, while for others, the slightest trouble will become a source of a nervous breakdown. Often during pregnancy in the second trimester, nervous tension appears even due to bad weather, because women are especially sensitive during this period.

Often, stress can be associated with a woman's changed state during pregnancy.

1. Physiological changes. A sharp increase in weight, the appearance of stretch marks, the fear of losing their former beauty can bring a pregnant woman to a stressful state. Every woman should know that this is temporary, soon everything will fall into place.
2. Fear of childbirth. Women often hear that during childbirth, difficulties often arise that lead to undesirable consequences. In addition, the process itself is very painful. Such information causes severe stress and spoils the mood for all 9 months.
3. Feelings for the future child. Will the pregnancy go well? What will the baby be like? How to raise him to be a good person? All these thoughts cause stress, but you need to get rid of it. Experiences can provoke a miscarriage, illness in the baby, or disturbances in its development.
4. Family troubles. Pregnancy can cause a chill in a relationship. It always seems to a woman that her husband does not hear her and does not pay due attention. To this problem are added worries about the baby, the future life, which will change significantly.
5. Money matters. With the advent of the child, the expenses in the family will increase significantly. You need to be ready for this.
6. Problems at work during pregnancy. Almost all women work until the 30th week and only then go on maternity leave. General work stress, a growing belly, because of which it becomes difficult for a woman to do something, lead to nervous tension.

stress during pregnancy - quarrel with husband

In addition to the foreseen reasons, unplanned ones may also appear. The death of a relative, a quarrel with a husband or breakup, an accident, and much more can cause severe stress in the second trimester of pregnancy, the consequences of which are unlikely to be pleasant.

Danger at all stages of pregnancy

Why is stress dangerous during pregnancy? During the nerves, special hormones are produced, which can lead to placental disorders, pathologies and abnormal development of the fetus. It largely depends on the duration of pregnancy.

Shocks in the first trimester of pregnancy, especially at 12 weeks, are undesirable. At this stage, the structure of the fetal organs, organ systems occurs, so experiences should be avoided. This condition can cause spontaneous abortion or congenital diseases of the child. If the formation of the placenta is disturbed, the fetus may die in the first weeks.

During stress, the embryo disrupts the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system

If a girl suffers stress in the second and third trimester, the child may be born with autism spectrum diseases. In late pregnancy, entanglement with the umbilical cord is dangerous due to the active life of the child due to the stress of the mother.

The danger during pregnancy at the 35th and 36th week of pregnancy with shocks also exists for the woman herself. She may develop preeclampsia and develop diabetes. Stress can also affect pregnancy in the form of difficulties during childbirth. A woman will give birth too long, or, conversely, give birth ahead of time, without bringing the baby.

How to prevent dangers?

To avoid complications from severe stress during pregnancy, you need to get away from problems. For example, stop paying attention to outsiders and not talking to those people who provoke conflict. If you can’t remove the possible reasons, you need to try to change your attitude to the situation.

A woman can make a list of factors that disturb her emotional state. Nearby you need to write possible ideas: how to fix the problem, put the nervous system in order. You need to control your emotions.

You can increase your resilience by doing the following:

• walk more in the fresh air;
• sleep well;
• eat right, eat more vegetables and fruits;
• do yoga and swimming;
• talk heart to heart with friends;
• rest more.

To relieve stress, you need to walk more in the fresh air

Many women are well relieved by aromatherapy or meditation. Any such event is important for the body, the main thing is to perform the procedure in a good mood.

It is worth remembering that at the 9th month of pregnancy and during all stages of gestation, a woman must take care of herself and the child.

How to behave?

Doctors warn about the harmful effects of stress on pregnancy. You need to know how to deal with it. Special methods will help relieve nervous tension.

1. Take small breaths in and out at the moment of shock. Gather and give yourself completely to breathing, stroke your stomach, do a massage.
2. Turn on the music and relax. For this, calm melodies are suitable.
3. Take a warm shower, light scented candles.

It will be easier to endure a terrible event if you tell someone about it, speak out. Mom, husband or good friend. Go for a massage, read nice books, watch comedy movies.

Turn on the music and relax

During times of constant stress, sleep more (at least 9 hours). If you can’t fall asleep quickly, you can take mild sedatives, for example, valerian. Check with your doctor for instructions.

If these methods do not help, go to experienced professionals. In difficult life situations, a psychologist helps a lot.

Result of stress during pregnancy

Short-term stress contributes to the recovery of the body due to the production of hormones. However, sudden mood swings cause severe damage to the nervous and immune systems. The number of lymphocytes, which are responsible for fighting diseases and infections, is significantly reduced, so the likelihood of long and severe colds increases. Chronic diseases can worsen and even cancer cells can form.

High psycho-emotional stress is dangerous. Weakness, poor sleep, headache and the onset of a cold are symptoms of overexertion. Such stress can negatively affect the fetus and cause possible developmental abnormalities.

Conclusion

Stress has a negative effect on the woman and the fetus. The expectant mother must understand that she is now responsible not only for her life, but also for the life of her child. She should try her best to control her emotions and not give in to stressful situations. Thus, she will protect both her health and the baby.

Pregnancy is a special period, accompanied by a firework of emotions that are not always positive. Difficulties at work, problems in the family, bad tests ... This list of reasons for worrying every pregnant woman has her own. And only a few can boast of cold-blooded calmness and absolute "immunity" to stress. A strong nervous strain 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 are the causes of stress during pregnancy in order to take control of the situation in time, and why stress during pregnancy is dangerous for a woman and her crumbs.

When a woman says "I'm stressed!", most likely, she is upset, scared, outraged by something. But this is not an accurate description of the term "stress" and is more characteristic of its one variety - 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, such as 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 a bad mood.

More dangerous is constant stress during pregnancy or distress. This condition occurs against the background of prolonged nervous tension. Such "harmful" stress often disrupts the functioning of the whole organism, affecting the hormonal background, immune function and well-being of a pregnant woman.

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

Stress during pregnancy - causes and features of development

In the gestational period, stress proceeds according to a certain scenario. It leads to stimulation of hormonal processes, which leads to pathological synthesis of glucocorticoids and catecholamines. This leads to the fact that in the body of a pregnant woman there is a destruction of glucose 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 generation. Then, in order to "rest", the body reduces the production of insulin, which is often called transient functional type diabetes.

But the effect 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 the body begins to break down fats to get energy. The product of their decay 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 stressful 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 ignoring the often recurring stress is unwise.

What can cause severe stress during pregnancy? First of all, stress is triggered as a result of acute excitement, 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, to find out if everything is in order. It is especially difficult for women who have experienced a miscarriage and the loss of a baby in the past.
• Fear of future motherhood. Mild anxiety at the thought of the upcoming meeting with the baby and his future upbringing in women often occurs. But sometimes this excitement develops into a real test for the female nervous system and it is not possible to avoid severe stress.
• Contact with the outside world. Endless tests and queues in medical facilities, 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. Teachings from a disgruntled boss and unfriendly colleagues are perfect conditions for chronic stress. And if we also take into account toxicosis, frequent delays due to the next examination by a gynecologist and the inability to concentrate on work, it becomes obvious that stress during pregnancy occurs very often at work.
• shock situations. Pregnancy does not exclude tragic turns in life. Anything can happen: divorce, dismissal, the death of relatives in an accident, an unscheduled move.
• Family environment. If the climate in the family is bad, conflicts often occur and misunderstanding is 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 exacerbate the effect of stress on pregnancy.

How to understand that you have stress during pregnancy - symptoms

You can understand that a woman has stress by her emotional outburst. However, some women experience stress in silence and do not know it themselves.

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

• sleep disturbance (insomnia or vice versa, a constant desire to take a nap);
• obvious changes in appetite (refusal to eat or overeating);
• inability to work fully (fatigue, memory loss, lethargy);
• groundless fears or anxieties;
• signs of a depressive mood (apathy, a sense 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 a 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 a woman experiences a deep emotional shock, the consequences for her and her baby can be deplorable.

Stress during pregnancy: consequences for the child

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

• On the one hand, the first few weeks the baby is still microscopically small and is reliably protected from the effects of stress. Hormones of "stress" do not enter the fetal egg even after its implantation, since the placenta does not yet function until the 10th week, 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 the inclinations of organs. And the presence of stress during pregnancy in the early stages worsens the functioning of the hormonal system and metabolic processes in a woman. 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, the risk of having an autistic baby is twice as high as women who do not experience this condition.

Stress during pregnancy in the second trimester for a woman is no longer as dangerous as in the first. But in relation to the baby, everything changes exactly the opposite. For him, this period is very responsible, because the development of the organs and systems laid down in the first trimester is in full swing, and any negative factors can disrupt this process. Of course, there will be no serious anomalies in the development of the baby, but the following violations may occur:

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

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

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

Stress during pregnancy: consequences for women

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

1. worsening toxicity. Even moderate stress can turn mild nausea into uncontrollable vomiting. Also there is drowsiness, dehydration, worsening blood counts. Often this leads to hospitalization.
2. Hormonal imbalance. Hormones are the first to respond to stress. Depending on the state of the female body, this can provoke an unsuccessful implantation of the embryo or improper fixation of the fetal egg in the uterus. Often, the fertilized cell, not attached to the endometrium, leaves the uterus along with menstrual blood.
3. Hypertension of the uterus. The connection between an increase in uterine tone and experiences has long been established. Therefore, stress often causes the development of a threat of miscarriage.
4. Freezing fetus. Very often, a missed pregnancy happens due to stress.

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

The second trimester of pregnancy is the most comfortable period for a woman. Toxicosis is already over, and the delights of the third trimester in the form of sluggishness have not yet arrived. Therefore, there are no external reasons for stress. Since the emotional state in this period is sublime, minor stimuli are unlikely to provoke strong feelings. But if something really serious happens, the stress will flow very actively.

On a note! For women, stress in this period is not dangerous, which cannot be said about the baby. So if you can't handle your nerves, ask your doctor to prescribe you some mild sedatives.

Stress in the third trimester of pregnancy is not dangerous for a 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 time and the tone of the uterus increases, it may decide that it is time to give birth.
2. Weakness of labor activity. 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 childbirth. In such a situation, the birth process takes place with complications, which increases the risk of birth injuries in the child. Sometimes natural childbirth becomes impossible.

How to deal with stress during pregnancy

If you realize that you have 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 someone close to you who can help you pull yourself together and ask for help. If there is no one to rely on, contact a psychologist.

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

1. Conquer your fears. If the cause of stress is fear for the baby, tell the doctor about it and, if necessary, undergo an additional examination. If the reason is something else, try to solve it in a similar way.
2. Find a hobby. A hobby will distract from bad thoughts and give a lot of positive.
3. Learn to pamper yourself. If you're craving something sweet, indulge in one of the most delicious desserts. If you want to ride a swing - do not stop, because a baby lives in you.
4. Release the fear of labor pain. Although women hide, absolutely everyone is afraid of this pain. You need to come to terms with this, do not wind yourself up and undermine the health of the baby with your stress.
5. Don't hide your pregnancy. Often, women in the early stages do not advertise their position, and silently endure the frequent reprimands of the boss for being late or poor performance. Tell him that you are pregnant and he will enter into your position. So at least one stress in the first trimester of pregnancy will be less.
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 positive and get maximum pleasure, because pregnancy ends very quickly. And remember that the process of childbirth, the health of your baby, and future lactation depend on your calmness.

Video "Stress and nerves during pregnancy"

Everyone unanimously says that during pregnancy, women should not be nervous, worry, refuse their favorite food, experience various discomforts. But why? Why are nervous experiences, stress and depression so detrimental to the health and development of the fetus? Why is a pregnant woman literally carried in her arms and trying not to be disturbed by trifles? Do stressful situations really affect the child, or is it the tricks of pregnant girls? In this article, we will try to figure out how stress affects the body of a pregnant woman and child, why the expectant mother cannot find a place for herself, and what to do if the usual methods do not help to calm down.

How stress manifests itself during pregnancy

Very often, a woman does not even realize that she is in constant stress. Especially if the reasons associated with stress stretch from the time when the expectant mother was not yet pregnant. A woman's depression can be diagnosed by her mood. Very often, pregnancy (especially desired) brings inspiration, a sense of flight, and expectation of a miracle. If a woman constantly feels a broken state, she is depressed and apathetic, most likely, stress makes itself felt. Such a state is fueled by very real physical manifestations - a headache, a heartbeat quickens, blood pressure becomes unusually high, and appetite is lost. If a woman continues to work, stress affects her performance - the expectant mother stops doing her usual norm, breaks down on clients, loses the quality of her work. In relationships with loved ones, nervousness is felt, hands can shake, nights pass without sleep, anxiety is felt, a woman begins to get sick often. If you notice these symptoms in yourself, you need to take action as soon as possible, because stress during pregnancy is very dangerous.

Causes of stress during pregnancy

Various films present a huge number of stories with rabid pregnant women who cannot contain their anger. Is everything really that complicated, or did the director's productions just exaggerate everything? Let's try to figure out why a woman experiences stress during pregnancy, what reasons can contribute to this.

1. Hormones. Very often a woman worries about hormonal changes. As a rule, hormones during pregnancy (especially at the initial stage) simply rage, a woman becomes tearful, often nervous, her mood changes several times a day.
2. Job. Stressful situations in the expectant mother may be associated with work. If the work is stressful, you need to try to transfer to another department with less psychological stress before giving birth. Often, the expectant mother worries about work if it is unofficial, because in this case the woman does not have any social guarantees. She worries that her place may be taken and her career derailed due to a forced break from work that will take place in the near future. If there is no work, experiences do not become less, especially if the father of the child is not a guarantor of stability. It can be said that work activity is one of the most serious concerns for a pregnant woman.
3. Finance. The practical side of the issue also plays an important role while expecting a child. Even if a woman has a stable income, after receiving maternity money (which is usually quickly spent on the needs of a baby), a woman at best receives a childcare allowance, which is quite small. The expectant mother worries about how she will feed the child, whether her husband's salary will be enough for the whole family, how to pay off a loan, mortgage, etc. Of course, these issues should be resolved by a man, but not all women are lucky with the father of the child and situations can be completely different.
4. Housing. Very often, the housing issue is acute - if the family does not have its own apartment or it is small enough to increase the number of residents. The lack of finances for renting an apartment, the forced need to live with relatives, a small area, unfavorable living conditions - all this can cause stress for a woman, because she, like a true mistress and mother, tries to do everything to make the baby comfortable and comfortable.
5. Men. Sometimes the cause of concern may be the relationship with the father of the unborn child. It's no secret that pregnancy is not always planned and desired. If a woman is not married or believes that a man will leave her as soon as he finds out about the pregnancy, this becomes a serious cause for stress.

In addition, there can be any number of reasons for worries - a figure that will probably deteriorate, the relationship of the unborn child with older brothers and sisters, the opinions of others, worries about the health of the future crumbs. The imaginary brain of a pregnant woman is able to experience stress even from watching an emotional movie. But why is it so important to keep calm and psychological balance?

It is difficult to find a woman who would go through her entire pregnancy in harmony, peace and good spirits. All pregnant women experience in one way or another, this is normal. Any mother worries about the future baby. But what does excessive psychological stress lead to? How do nervous shocks affect the health and development of the fetus in the womb?

1. In early pregnancy, when the fetal egg is not firmly attached to the wall of the uterus, severe stress can cause a miscarriage.
2. In the first trimester, the experiences of the mother are especially strongly reflected in the health of the baby in the future, since it is at this time that the vital organs of the baby are laid and formed. Due to the experiences of the mother, the baby may have various pathologies in the development of the nervous and cardiovascular systems, gene mutations, anomalies in the development of the maxillofacial system.
3. With severe mother stress, children are born weak, often get sick, their immune system cannot withstand external negative factors.
4. Very often, the depressive state of the mother during pregnancy is reflected in the baby in the distant future. If after birth the baby seems healthy, then after 5-10 years he develops various psychological disorders, for example, schizophrenia. At a minimum, such children grow up closed, it is difficult for them to find new friends.
5. The very course of pregnancy during stress is aggravated by various complications. The placenta may begin to exfoliate ahead of time, polyhydramnios or oligohydramnios may occur. All this leads to hypoxia and even intrauterine death of the fetus.
6. Babies whose mothers constantly worry about something during pregnancy often suffer from enuresis and hyperactivity. These children are prone to autism.
7. Due to the mother's worries, the child in late pregnancy may be overly active, which leads to entanglement of the umbilical cord.
8. The stress of the mother in the later stages leads to premature birth, and, as a result, a premature and low birth weight baby.
9. Such children are more likely to suffer from various kinds of allergic reactions and asthma.

Stress is a serious test, especially for a pregnant woman. And this is important to understand, not only for herself, but also for the people around her. But what to do if the anxiety does not go away?

How to get rid of stress during pregnancy

First you need to try to get rid of the provoking factor. Sit down and try to have a heart to heart talk with yourself. What are you afraid of? What are you worried about? Believe me, you do not need such a man who abandoned you after the news of the pregnancy. You earn enough money to be enough for the first time, because the baby, in fact, needs very little, especially if he is breastfed. An apartment is a business, the main thing is that the baby is born healthy. All worries about finances, work, figures will seem like simple mouse fuss to you as soon as you see your baby's native eyes. Believe me, no worries are worth the health of your baby.

Share your fears with your loved ones, walk more, eat right, tune in to positive, watch good and kind films. Communicate with pregnant women - for the most part, they are sweet and carefree creatures. If there is an older child, devote all your free time to him so that later he does not feel deprived. Sleep more, engage in acceptable physical activity, communicate with nice people. Take a shower with aromatic oils, eat delicious meals, cook, listen to music, reread your favorite books. All this will give you a bunch of positive emotions that simply will not leave you time to worry. Believe me, the birth of life in your womb is already happiness.

Pregnancy is a time of excitement, worries and worries. However, anxiety is not always pleasant. Anything happens in life and often a woman is forced to experience serious emotional upheavals during pregnancy. Whatever the environment, you need to remember that there is nothing more important than a child in the womb. Try to stay calm and not worry about the little things. It's better to seem like a carefree fool than a hysterical vixen. Remember the child is the main motivation for your appeasement.

Video: stress during pregnancy

It has long been known that the emotional state of a pregnant woman directly affects the health of an unborn baby. In this case, the impact can be long-term or short-term, and bring benefits or harm. Stress during pregnancy is normal. It all depends on what kind of stressors affect the expectant mother, how she individually tolerates stress.

How does the mood of the mother affect the health of the baby

The modern world is difficult to imagine without stress. And for a woman, the very fact of pregnancy is a stress, physiological and psychological. It changes the state of the girl, affects the mood, makes you worry about the little things and get nervous.

Prolonged stress is especially dangerous., which contributes to an increase in pressure, a change in the composition of urine, the development of anemia. And since the expectant mother is inextricably linked with the baby, all these troubles also affect the child.

Stress hormones produced in a woman's body are transferred to the fetus. This can lead to health problems for the baby in the future. First of all, the nervous and circulatory systems, the heart suffer.

Often a child is born small and weak, he is more prone to seasonal diseases, depressive states, his behavior differs from the behavior of his peers. It is worth understanding in more detail how stress affects pregnancy.

As a result of research, it was found that perinatal stress leads to:

• increased risk of preterm birth;
• reduced baby weight;
• insufficient growth of the newborn;
• high risk of miscarriage.

High danger is a strong stress in the early stages of pregnancy. It can cause miscarriage. In the future, there are violations in the development of the circulatory system, oxygen starvation.

Interesting fact! It has been proven that mothers who have been exposed to stress factors for a long time are 60 percent more likely to have babies with respiratory diseases.

Severe stress during pregnancy has long-term consequences, it affects the baby not only during his stay in the womb, but also in the future. Newborns and children under one year of age suffer from its effects as follows:

• increased activity;
• irritability;
• anxiety;
• fussiness;
• violation of concentration;
• slow mental and physical development.

After a year, the consequences of perinatal stress are expressed as follows:

• inattention;
• inability to concentrate;
• emotional instability;
• behavioral disorders in girls.

Studies have shown that stress during pregnancy affects the life, behavior, physical and emotional state of a maturing child. It is not uncommon that severe stress during pregnancy leads to the appearance of mental illness, in particular, to the development of severe depression and schizophrenia.

However, moderate stress can be beneficial., because it helps to strengthen the immunity of the fetus, improve motor skills. It is believed that periodically arising small stress helps the child to endure the strongest first stress in life - birth.

It has been proven that from the 20th week the baby feels and experiences everything that the mother feels. He fully conveys her emotional state. This can and should be used to raise a baby in the womb.

The difference between moderate and severe stress

The topic of the influence of moderate and severe stress on a person is always relevant. There is debate about what positive impact it has. Scientists have proven that there are positive factors that accompany stress, these include:

1. Increasing adaptability . Thanks to stress, a person learns to adapt to the constantly changing conditions of life. This is what allowed people to survive global climate change, explore new territories, learn new activities, gain knowledge. All this happened due to the adaptive mechanisms that include stress.
2. Memory sharpening . In a state of tension, a person can remember what seemed to be long forgotten. The concentration of attention increases, the ability to solve tasks that were beyond the power increases.
3. British scientists came to the conclusion that moderate stress promotes weight loss . Extra pounds go away due to the influence of stressors that cause a slight increase in body temperature. During this period, brown fat causes the breakdown of white fat molecules, as a result, excess weight is lost.

The body of an adult is 90 percent white fat, and this increases the risk of developing many of the diseases that obesity provokes. Light periodic tension can serve as an excellent prevention of these diseases.

But strong stressors, on the contrary, negatively affect the human body, causing harm to it. It is as follows:

1. Chronic stress and tension lead to exhaustion of the body, a significant decrease in immunity, which causes various pathologies. The adrenal glands intensively produce cortisol, it is called the stress hormone, it reduces the activity of lymphocytes. A person becomes afraid of any infection.
2. Increased stress on the body, physical and emotional, contributes to the production of large amounts of hormones and catecholamines. This puts a strain on the heart, heart rate and breathing become more frequent, vasospasm develops, and blood pressure rises. A pre-infarction condition appears. Ignoring it can lead to a heart attack.
3. Development of post-traumatic syndrome. This is a dangerous condition, with which you should already go to a qualified psychotherapist. It is expressed in the constant experience of a stressful situation, a return to the past, a person lives in constant fear, closes himself or tries to tell others about what happened again and again.

The benefits and harms of stress are a rhetorical question. Everyone can find his own answer, the whole thing lies in the attitude of the person himself to the current state of affairs. Many people know how to keep a face and get out of difficult situations with dignity.

As for a pregnant woman, she should experience only positive emotions when carrying a baby. At the same time, hormones of happiness - endorphins - are produced in her body. They allow the fetus to develop normally, and subsequently the baby is calm and balanced.