How stress affects pregnancy - dangers and consequences

What is stress?

This term usually refers to the body’s reaction to excessive excitement, surprise, and fear. But from a medical point of view, there are six types of stress:

• emotional;
• physiological;
• light;
• temperature;
• hungry;
• neuropsychic.

Phenomena that occur to the expectant mother during pregnancy fall into the latter category.

There are also two categories of stress based on their duration:

• acute condition - occurs quickly and ends just as quickly;
• chronic – lasts constantly.

Stress during pregnancy provokes increased production of adrenaline, cortisol and norepinephrine. As a result, the tone of the uterine muscles increases, blood vessels narrow, and blood pressure levels rise. A woman may experience an increased heart rate and tightness in her chest.

It is important to prevent this condition from becoming chronic. Otherwise, breathing problems, pale skin, and dilated pupils are possible. Later, due to chronic stress, headaches develop, memory weakens, appetite disappears, and the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract is destabilized.

How maternal stress is transmitted to the fetus

The mother's stress is transmitted to the fetus through the amniotic fluid and affects its development, a group of German and Swiss scientists found. Their work was published in the journal Stress.

Pregnant women are constantly advised not to be nervous so as not to harm the baby. Constant stress in the mother is associated with an increased risk of developing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and cardiovascular diseases in the child. However, scientists still did not know exactly how maternal nervousness affects the fetus. Scientists from the University of Zurich and the Max Planck Institute in Munich conducted a study that helped reveal new details. It turned out that stress in the mother can affect metabolism in the placenta, which affects the formation of the fetus.

When stressed, the human body begins to produce certain hormones, including corticoliberin (CRH). This hormone is synthesized in the hypothalamus, but during pregnancy it is also produced by the placenta. As a result, a small amount of CRH enters the amniotic fluid. Previous animal tests have already shown that CRH affects fetal development. The presence of this hormone in the amniotic fluid is recognized by the body as a signal that the mother is not doing well, and the process of accelerated growth is launched - so that, in the event of premature birth, the baby has a better chance of survival. Scientists have already studied this quite well using the example of tadpoles - if the pond in which they live is on the verge of drying up, the concentration of CRH in the tadpoles begins to increase, which leads to an acceleration of metamorphosis, that is, their transformation into frogs.

So how does stress affect CRH production in the placenta? 34 healthy women in the second trimester of pregnancy took part in the tests. For medical reasons, their amniotic fluid was taken for testing - this procedure itself is a short-term stress for the woman. Comparisons of CRH levels in saliva and amniotic fluid showed that short-term stress does not affect the child.

The researchers also asked women to complete questionnaires to find out if they were experiencing chronic stress and how this affected CRH production.

It turned out that if the mother is nervous for a long time, the level of CRH in the amniotic fluid increases. And a high concentration of the hormone triggers the process of accelerated ripening of the fetus. However, too rapid growth has its negative sides and can lead to physiological and cognitive impairment in the child in the future.

“Accelerated growth may occur due to disruption of the correct formation of fetal organs,” says psychologist Ulrika Ehler, project coordinator.

Of course, it is almost impossible to avoid stress during pregnancy. In difficult life situations, psychologists advise pregnant women to seek professional support. But it is also worth remembering that the negative consequences of stress experienced during pregnancy can be largely compensated for by the close mother-child bond after childbirth. Love and support play a huge role in a child's development.

Causes of stress during pregnancy

Many factors can cause stress:

• environment;
• regular family quarrels;
• lack of support from loved ones;
• constant disturbances in sleep patterns;
• nervous situations at work or at university;
• excessive fatigue;
• limited freedom of action;
• regular concern for the baby's condition.

If the expectant mother experiences constant stress over a long period, stress accumulates, and the body is no longer able to fully resist it.

One of the services that our clinic provides is pregnancy management, including monitoring the patient’s emotional state. A professional approach can minimize the harm caused to the unborn child and ensure its healthy development.

The effect of stress on the body of a pregnant woman

In medicine, stress is understood as the body’s reaction to certain situations:

• hormonal changes;
• strong feelings;
• changes in external conditions and so on.

During pregnancy, many changes occur in a woman’s body, so expectant mothers react much more painfully to environmental influences.

Short-term stress occurs for minor reasons and passes easily. These usually include:

• lack of sleep;
• emerging concerns about the health of the unborn baby, etc.

Sometimes stress can be prolonged and severe, in particular due to:

• death of a loved one;
• adultery;
• conflict situations at work or at home.

Despite the advances in medicine, experts did not fully understand the mechanism of stress on a child in the womb.

During a study of 34 healthy pregnant women, from whom amniotic fluid samples , it was found that prolonged stress in expectant mothers leads to changes in metabolism in the placenta and affects the development of the child.

This is because, at the time of birth, a newborn's organs are less developed than those of those babies who have not experienced the effects of the stress hormone cortisol in the amniotic fluid (in other words, in the amniotic fluid). This conclusion was reached by a group of researchers from the University of Zurich and the Max Planck Institute in Munich.

Expectant mothers react much more painfully to environmental influences

To find out whether the placenta secretes stress hormones, the researchers compared the presence of cortisol in maternal saliva with that in amniotic fluid. No connection could be found.

“It is likely that with short-term stress, the child is protected from the negative effects of maternal stress,” concludes University of Zurich psychologist Ulrika Ehlert.

How to cope with stress

Our experts recommend that expectant mothers cope with excessive anxiety in the following ways:

1. Strengthen the body by taking vitamin and mineral complexes. Particular attention should be paid to ascorbic acid and tocopherol. Scientific research confirms that these vitamins protect the nervous system and improve immunity. They reduce the impact of provocateurs that cause a feeling of panic. No less important are B vitamins, which help stabilize the emotional state.
2. Practice specially designed perinatal yoga complexes - breathing exercises (pranayama), physical (asanas) and meditative (nidra). They calm the mind, make consciousness clear and help distract from any problems.
3. Listen to romantic and calm music. Experts assure that classic music not only relaxes the expectant mother, but also has a positive effect on the development of the baby. Combine business with pleasure!

How mother's stress affects baby

The influence of maternal emotions on the baby’s condition varies depending on the current trimester:

• in the early stages they can provoke a miscarriage;
• in the middle of pregnancy, stress leads to overstrain of vital organs, increased blood pressure, and the appearance of swelling.

Starting from the second trimester, a nervous condition contributes to a deterioration in the blood supply to the placenta, therefore the transport of oxygen and nutrients to the fetus is disrupted. You should not reproach yourself for being overly emotional, but turn to specialists. Professional pregnancy management in Nizhny Novgorod will help you get rid of problems.

Sometimes the effects of maternal stress do not appear immediately. But in the future they can turn into all sorts of problems with the baby’s health:

• impaired concentration and attention;
• hyperactivity;
• neuroses;
• weak immune system;
• urinary incontinence;
• defects in appearance;
• speech problems;
• autism and other mental development disorders.

In some cases, we prescribe special psychotropic complexes to the patient. In this case, consultation with your doctor is required, since some medications are contraindicated during pregnancy. Don't get carried away with self-medication! It’s better to seek help from our specialists - they will conduct psychological tests, help you understand the reasons for your worries, and cope with them in the best possible way.

Rules for avoiding stress

• Try to maintain self-control. Of course, expectant mothers are more emotional and often react much more strongly to both good and bad. But remember that no one has canceled self-control, and in most cases a pregnant woman is quite capable of coping with an emotion that in a given situation may prevent her from maintaining a balanced state.
• Evaluate your own expectations. It is not uncommon for a person to expect more from others than they can give him, and the expectant mother is no exception. This applies to all areas: family, work, communication with friends, visiting doctors and public places. If your expectations are too high, then you will constantly be on the verge of a conflict situation, which means it will be difficult to avoid stress.
• Down with aggressiveness! Remember: if positivity comes from you, then it affects others in the best way. And on the contrary, your intensely aggressive position causes negativity from those around you, be it strangers on the streets, your family, or work colleagues.
• Learn to prioritize. If some event has caused you stress, think about how important it really is compared to having a baby. Put these two events on imaginary scales, and you will understand that temporary troubles have lost their weight.
• Limit scary information. A pregnant woman is very sensitive, so she simply needs to avoid negativity. Do not watch films with scenes of violence, turn off news programs that exploit disaster themes. Also, do not read scary stories about childbirth on the Internet and do not hesitate to interrupt friends who want to share with you the “horrors” of childbirth and sleepless nights with a child.
• Dream about the future! Dreams about how you will become a mother, what a wonderful baby you will have are needed to maintain peace of mind during pregnancy. Laughter therapy will help you maintain a positive attitude. Watch good comedies, read funny books and communicate with those who keep you optimistic.