Stress May Cause Complications During Pregnancy

As if having a baby crammed into your torso were not hard enough, it turns out that stress can actually cause complications during pregnancy. There is a reason why ladies with child are often told to take it easy, get off their feet, or rest. When you deal with too much stress at any time, you are basically reducing your well-being by a measurable margin. However, when you are pregnant, you are stressing out for yourself as well as for the baby.

Where to Focus as an Expectant Mother

Most of the time we focus our attention on getting the proper nutrition while we are pregnant. We follow the doctor’s orders to the letter, and we try to stay as active as possible for as long as we can. However, we are usually not concentrating on how much stress we are dealing with on a daily basis. Being with child can be a nerve-racking experience no matter how prepared you think you are. Still, being too stressed out can foster some serious complications during pregnancy if you are not careful.

What Happens When Pregnant Women Stress Too Much

It doesn’t matter what our bodies are going through—too much stress can cause some issues, regardless. On top of that, you become incredibly fragile while you are pregnant, which makes stress that much more dangerous. Too much stress can cause cortisol to be released into the bloodstream. This unfortunate situation can eventually affect your baby’s physical, mental, and emotional development in a rather negative way.

How to Determine If You Have Too Much Stress

The average and most general signs of having too much stress are similar to the way a pregnant woman might already feel. Being tired, feeling lethargic, having uncontrollable mood swings, and dealing with sleep disruptions are all common in the lives on the stressed. Because of this, it is extremely important for an expectant mother to pay close attention to her body, relying on her intuition to tell her that something is amiss.

You may have to break down and go speak with your doctor or with a certified therapist at some point, especially if you feel as though your stress may cause unwanted complications during pregnancy. Keep in mind that a certain amount of stress is normal at this time. However, too much of it might make matters worse, so be careful.