As a psychologist friend of mine once told me if
you don't feel stress in your life you're not
paying attention. Everyone experiences stress,
even pregnant women. What is not clear,
however, is whether stress can have harmful
affects on pregnancy.
For years obstetricians have looked to see
whether an increase in stressful events can
either cause miscarriage, result in preterm
delivery, or in some other way harm a fetus. Up
until recently the consensus had been that
while excessive physical work can bring on
preterm labor, emotional stress did not seem
to have negative effects on pregnancy
outcomes. This conclusion, however, has
recently been challenged. There now is
information to indicate that stress can cause
the body to produce certain hormones that can
perhaps cause miscarriage and that very likely
can bring on preterm labor. Additionally, even
if doctors have no "smoking gun" linking stress
with negative pregnancy outcomes, pregnant
women would want to decrease the amount of
stress they have to contend with just because
of how unpleasant it makes them feel. These
emotional consequences of stress can range
from a mild sense of being overwhelmed to
severe episodes of depression. They can
eventually lead to pregnant women feeling
withdrawn and being unable to function.
Are there things pregnant women can do to
reduce the stress they have and to change how
it makes them feel? The answer is yes. Below
are listed several techniques that both women
and the clinicians who care for them have
found useful in helping to relieve the sense that
life is getting out of control. I have divided
these techniques into two groups: (1)
readjusting your lifestyle to reduce stress and
(2) specific maneuvers and activities you can do
to change how you feel -both physically and
emotionally-about the stress you are under.
Gaining control of your life:
1. Take a close look at your lifestyle. Make
yourself do this on paper. Look at your work
activities, home and family responsibilities,
other obligations (church, community activities,
clubs and organizations to which you belong).
Then look to see how "doable" it is. Make sure
you include in your calculations time for
yourself for such activities as exercise, down
time, and socializing Once you have done this,
be honest with yourself as you ask the
following: Is this schedule achievable?
Sustainable? Satisfying? If not, accept the
reality that you have to change the schedule.
2. Accept the fact that even if you currently can
thrive on your busy and demanding lifestyle,
you likely will not be able to sustain it as
pregnancy progresses and makes more physical
demands on you. Therefore prepare yourself to
cut back on what you're doing and to allow
yourself more time for rest and relaxation. You
will need to sleep more. You will need to
change the time you a lot for meals to make
sure that you are able to eat a balanced diet.
You will feel better if you allow time to engage
in a reasonable exercise program. Finally you
will need to allow yourself some "mental
growth" time. This is time for reading,
thinking, and planning for the new, incredibly
important role of mother you will soon
assume.
3. Be prepared to give up some control over
the life-style you have worked so hard to
attain. Many things about pregnancy are not in
your control. You may experience severe
morning sickness. You may have overwhelming
fatigue. You may develop a pregnancy
complication requiring hospitalization or home
bed rest. For many women, especially those
who have demanding jobs, the thought that
biology might interfere with their
responsibilities borders on the intolerable. But
it happens. Be prepared to accept this.
4. Make up your mind that you, and not your
husband or your mother or your boss or your
friends, are going to determine how you feel
about your pregnancy and how you cope with
it. Other than your medical care providers, you
are the best person to determine what your
needs are, how hard you should work, how
much you should rest, what you should eat, and
all other aspects of your behavior during
pregnancy. Certainly listen to the advice of
both medical professionals and friends and
family members that you trust. But don't allow
yourself to be made to feel bad by the well-
intentioned but often incorrect comments and
claims of others.
5. Keep lines of communication open with
those you love, especially your spouse. Your
spouse, parents, and friends--unless they are
currently pregnant themselves--will not know
exactly what you are experiencing and cannot
anticipate what your wants and needs will be.
Let them know. Tell them how you are feeling
and how they can help. At the same time you
must also be sensitive to the concerns and
anxieties your spouse might have, especially if
this is your first pregnancy.
6. Don't be a hero. This is especially important
if your work environment is in a traditionally
"macho" field. Such professions as law,
medicine, and corporate life often make
demands that are simply impossible for a
pregnant woman to fulfill if they are to remain
in good health and reasonably sane. Discuss
with your spouse and your boss what you can
and cannot reasonably do and make
adjustments accordingly. Your employer
certainly wants you to work as long as you can
into your pregnancy. By adjusting your work
environment in minor ways you often will be
able to contribute much more to your
organization than by following your former rigid schedule.
7. Do your homework. Learn as much about
pregnancy as you can. Read, talk to friends,
attend classes, and talk to your doctor or
midwife to learn as much as possible not only
about the biology of pregnancy but about its
emotional implications as well. In this way if
you do begin to experience new and disturbing
emotions you'll at least not be surprised by
them.
8. Give yourself permission to relax. This
means making time specifically for relaxation
and not doing so only when the odd spare
moment occurs. Take time to do whatever
makes you feel good. Read a book, see a
movie, have a massage, sleep in late when you
can. Each of us has his or her own means of
personal "profit-taking". Make sure you do
some, do your best to enjoy it, and by no means
allow yourself to feel guilty about it.
9. Teach yourself--or get taught--relaxation
techniques. It has been shown by many
researchers, notably Herbert Benson, M.D. and
Alice Domar, PhD., that by learning to elicit a
state of deep physical rest on command, both
your body and your mind return to a calm,
relaxed state. Heart rate, blood pressure, stress
hormone levels, and muscle tension will drop.
The mind experiences a marked diminution in
tension and the perception of stress. This is
called the Relaxation Response. Techniques for
eliciting the response can be learned from
health care providers or by reading the
excellent description of it in Dr. Alice Domar,
Self Nurture.
10. Talk to yourself--and write it down. The
process of specifically identifying thoughts and
feelings and putting them into written form is
an excellent way both to come to grips with
what you are experiencing and to help resolve
any of these feelings that are troublesome.
Doing so will give you better insight into
yourself and will often relieve the pain of
previously disturbing thoughts or feelings.
11. Test the origins of your emotions for
validity. This process is called "cognitive
restructuring". All of us get feedback and
messages from those with whom we deal in the
world. Often we make negative assumptions
about ourselves based on this feedback and
thus feel badly about interactions we have had
and about ourselves. This process of negative
thinking occurs spontaneously and can often be
overwhelming. But if you can begin to identify
these repetitive negative thoughts and write
them down to make sure you have a clear
understanding of them, you can then begin the
process of seeing what triggers them and
determine whether your thought or the
emotion it evokes is reasonable. Whenever
you get one of these thoughts look to see what
caused it. Ask yourself if what happened-a
comment, a cool look, etc-- deserves the
negative response you have given it. By so
doing you can start to break the cycle of
automatic negative feelings sparked by
common events in your life.
12. Finally, and not at all the least important,
consider the possibility of obtaining
professional help. The field of
psychopharmacology has advanced so much
over the last 15 years that seeing a therapist no
longer automatically involves years of once a
week visits to talk about your feelings.
Although such "talk therapy" can be helpful,
there are now many medications that are safe
for pregnant women to take. These medicines
have very few side effects yet can transform
how you feel. Depressed moods are often
caused by changes in the biochemistry of the
brain. There are medicines that can safely
adjust the levels of brain chemicals. These
medicines, just like the insulin the diabetic
takes, can correct abnormal biochemistry and
make you feel better and happier. If you and
your health are provider decide that such
medications would be useful for you, by all
means try them. They will not cause a
miscarriage or harm your baby.
Conclusion:
Life is complex and often hard. Stress will not
be going away anytime soon. There are,
however, ways that you as a pregnant woman
can go about evaluating the stress you are
under and make changes in your life to better
be able to deal with it. By so doing, you'll have
a healthier pregnancy and be a happier person.
Womenshealth.about.com
Posted by Maduka Tony
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