How to relieve nervous tension during pregnancy. Stress during pregnancy: causes and methods of relief. Hang out with happy people

A woman experiences a storm of emotions during pregnancy; figuring out what she finally wants is very, very difficult. She may get angry, cry a few minutes later, and then smile. How can a pregnant woman learn to remain calm again?

The reason for the storm of emotions in pregnant women.

Pregnant women have a changeable mood, and various little things can make them nervous. It should be noted that the woman did not even pay attention to these little things before. The reason for this behavior is the development large quantity female hormones necessary for normal childbearing. The main pregnancy hormones include gonadotropin: early stages pregnancy there is a high level of the hormone, the maximum concentration is at 7-10 weeks of pregnancy, increased concentration causes nausea, and this causes increased irritability; progesterone: a hormone that affects the process of bearing a child, the level of the hormone is high, it causes a woman to quickly fatigue; estriol: a natural antioxidant produced throughout pregnancy.

The changed hormonal background most strongly affects the emotional state of a pregnant woman in the first trimester. You should pay special attention to yourself when:

· you were prone to mood swings even before pregnancy;

· You lost a baby during a previous pregnancy. During a new pregnancy, a woman will listen to her body and look for signs of threat, and this increases irritability and serves as a reason to lose her temper. Keep in mind that negative emotions can provoke the threat of termination of pregnancy, we get a vicious circle.

· pregnancy occurred under the persuasion of your husband or relatives, then you may not understand why you need pregnancy, as a result, the pregnant woman begins to take out her anger on her loved ones, who forced her to decide to give birth to a child.

· you are used to commanding and being obeyed, you are used to keeping everything and everyone subordinate, but closer to childbirth your performance decreases, often those around you begin to help you with the best intentions, but to a strong woman such care seems to be a signal - I have become weak, and this is the basis of nervous stress .

How nervous breakdowns affect pregnancy.

Hormones change throughout pregnancy, so you will experience mood swings throughout your pregnancy. However, it is worth remembering that severe stress can provoke the risk of a threatened miscarriage (hypertonicity of the uterus), cause problems with sleep, appetite, exacerbation of chronic diseases, skin problems, and gastrointestinal ulcers.

You can tell you are having a nervous breakdown if:

· rapid fatigue sets in, frequent errors in work appear;

· can't concentrate;

· suffers from insomnia, nightmares;

· suffers from insurmountable anxiety;

· increased heart rate, neck pain, headache, neck and back pain appear.

You are having a nervous breakdown - what should you do?

It is difficult to cope with feelings on your own; you should seek help from a specialist. First, tell your gynecologist about your nerves and he will prescribe you: valerian, motherwort infusion, Glycine, Person, Magne B6. Only a specialist will prescribe the required dosage and tell you how long to take them. If measures taken turns out to be not enough - the doctor will refer you to a psychologist or psychotherapist.

How a pregnant woman can cope with nervous stress.

1. Throw out your emotions - anger, anger overtook you at work, you can go to the toilet and wash yourself cold water, open the tap fully and hit the stream of water with the edge of your palm;

2. Train yourself to relax

3. Sleep is the best medicine. If you don't get enough sleep, then this is a direct path to stress. You should try to sleep 8 hours a day, and if possible, you can take a nap for a couple of hours during the day. Give yourself a SIESTA!

4. Talk through problems. You were rude at work, pushed in public transport, etc. It’s worth talking through the situation; if there is a problem, it will be easier for you to understand the reason and solve it.

5. Seek support from your husband. Don't take your anger out on your husband, this will only make the situation worse. It is worth explaining to him that you are going through a difficult period and need help. Ask him to help you, even tug on his mustache or beard (if that makes you feel better). Believe me, your husband, just like you, wants you to be calm and cheerful.

Severe stress has a negative impact on mental and physical condition person. Acute shock affects the functioning of the immune system, and health and performance deteriorate. Therefore, it is extremely unfavorable during pregnancy. Not only the mother’s body suffers, but also the fetus.

Of course, for nine months you cannot completely isolate yourself from exciting situations, but it is the acute and prolonged stress factor that is dangerous. Powerful emotional trauma can cause the development of various pathologies, for example, missed abortion. But it's not all that scary. Scientists believe that small worries are even beneficial for the female body and the baby’s nervous system. Only constant stress and deep emotions cause serious damage. What consequences, besides missed abortion, can be caused by a long-term stress factor?

The effect of stress on the female body

Long-term chronic stress affects the condition of a pregnant woman as follows:

1. Increased blood pressure, rapid heartbeat, breathing problems, tachycardia, dizziness. Some women complain of chest and abdominal pain and persistent migraines.
2. In the first trimester, many women are plagued by toxicosis, and constant stress increases its manifestations.
3. A pregnant woman is unable to cope with emotions, she may cry often, and is haunted by apathy and fatigue. does not allow the woman to relax, she is tense and in a state of anxiety.
4. Decreased overall tone and strength. A woman constantly wants to sleep during the day, but cannot sleep at night. This behavior will subsequently appear in the baby.

Impact long-term stress during pregnancy it leads to depression, irritability, and dissatisfaction with one’s situation.

Mental stress and the course of pregnancy

Regular use also affects gestation. How dangerous is a stress factor?

1. Traumatic circumstances can provoke such an undesirable phenomenon as miscarriage. It has been proven that constant worry increases the risk of miscarriage in the first trimester.
2. Due to protracted emotional experiences, amniotic fluid may begin to leak prematurely, and this is an unfavorable development of events for the baby.
3. In the first trimester, the eighth week of gestation is considered the most dangerous period. At this time, the fetus is sensitive to stressful circumstances and a strong traumatic factor can lead to a missed abortion. In this case, the embryo stops developing. Additional causes of frozen pregnancy include alcohol abuse, infectious diseases, hormonal imbalance, heavy lifting, and previous abortions. But in some cases, doctors do not see any other reason for the appearance of a frozen pregnancy than nervous stress. Signs of a frozen pregnancy may appear in the second trimester, especially at 16 and 18 weeks.

Any deviation from the normal course of pregnancy aggravates the woman’s emotional state. And some pathologies, for example, the occurrence of a frozen pregnancy or miscarriage, have a strong impact on overall well-being.

Consequences of a stress factor for a baby

The mother's fetus is most susceptible. Stress during pregnancy negatively affects the baby for the following reasons:

1. Medical experts say that during periods of strong excitement, the baby’s nervous system suffers greatly. If the expectant mother experienced stress during pregnancy, then after birth the child may suffer from hyperactivity. Such children are susceptible to various phobias and have a reduced adaptive threshold.
2. Stress in pregnant women also negatively affects the health of the baby. The fetus suffers from intrauterine hypoxia, and after birth the child is susceptible to allergic and asthmatic reactions.
3. According to some data, in the early stages of pregnancy, namely in the first trimester, it can provoke the development of schizophrenia in the child. Researchers say the probability is seventy percent.
4. The child needs the calm emotions of the mother. If a woman is subject to negative thoughts, then the consequences of negative experiences affect the child’s psyche. A balanced mother can give her child health, both mental and physical. Some scientists believe that the manifestation of a frozen pregnancy should be looked for in the nervous excitability of the mother.
5. The cause of enuresis, diabetes, and autism also lies in the stressful state of the expectant mother. Severe trauma is a factor in many adversities in the baby, for example, prematurity, or the non-viability of the baby.

Stress during pregnancy affects not only the woman, but also her future child. The baby suffers from the mother’s worries and worries. Stress during pregnancy is the cause of many problems. You should be wary of severe anxiety not only in the first trimester, but throughout the entire period of bearing a child. In this case, many negative aspects can be avoided, for example, the occurrence of a frozen pregnancy or rupture of amniotic fluid.

Stress greatly suppresses the human immune system. When under stress, a person most often suffers from infections, which is extremely undesirable for pregnant women. Unfortunately , Stress is common during pregnancy. It all depends on the degree of oppression. If the stressful state is shallow and passes quickly, then nothing bad will happen. On the contrary, such stresses, light in impact and duration of time, prepare the woman’s body for childbirth and train nervous system the child is still in the womb.

Another thing is when pregnancy proceeds in a state of distress, which is detrimental for both the pregnant woman and the child, since during gestation the mother and fetus become a single organism and endure all external storms together. A long-term state of oppression exhausts the body, which is already having a hard time - after all, it has to take care of two people at once. Physically, the woman becomes lethargic and sleepy during the day and cannot sleep at night. The same will happen to the child after his birth, if the mother does not quickly mobilize herself to cope with her condition.

Negative stress causes negative consequences - anxiety for no reason (cannot sit still), sudden tachycardia, tremors of not only the limbs (the feeling that even the chest is shaking as if in a fever), dizziness, headaches, it seems that every part of the body; in those who are particularly sensitive, a rash may appear on the body. Toxicosis only intensifies, the woman catches infection after infection, consequences are possible in the form of pathologies of newborns and diseases of the child in the future.

The baby's central nervous system is especially affected. The nervous system of a child whose mother experienced stressful situations during pregnancy is very vulnerable. The child, already at a conscious age, experiences great difficulties in adapting to the world around him, suffers from a behavioral disorder (they say about such children that an awl in one place does not allow him to be calm). Needless to say, such children are characterized by increased nervousness and anxiety. They are more likely than their peers to be susceptible to various kinds of fears. The consequences of frequent and severe stress or one prolonged stress of the mother during pregnancy include asthmatic and allergic reactions of the child. Asthmatic and allergic markers were in most cases found in the umbilical cord blood of newborns whose mothers were under stress during pregnancy. If it were possible to reduce the level of stress experienced by pregnant women, a lot of children would not face neurological and psychological problems. Schizophrenia may threaten those children whose mothers experienced shock in the first three months of pregnancy, since it was during this period intrauterine development The nervous system of the fetus is formed. The probability of developing schizophrenia reaches 70%. The researchers’ conclusions are clear: “Based on our results, we can assume that external emotional factors can influence the development processes nerve tissue at stages early development fruit."

Every pregnant woman, with a certain amount of attention to the behavior of the child within herself, could notice that during her anxious state the fetus intensifies its movements. The explanation is simple - with a reduction in oxygen delivery, which is caused by the anxious state of the mother, the child actively massages the placenta so that with its contraction, a new portion of blood comes to him along with the necessary elements necessary for his full life.

Diabetes and enuresis can be attributed to the consequences that haunt a child if his mother was very nervous during pregnancy. And even autism is the cause of the state of severe negative stress experienced during pregnancy. By the way, when a mother is in mental shock, her body is completely independently capable of “culling” a weak male fetus. Under stress conditions, a low-viable male fetus may well die. To be fair, it should be noted that this does not happen to girls. It was also noted that boys, if born into the world under stress, live longer than those born into the world under more favorable circumstances.

The frequency of manifestations of “cleft lip” and “cleft palate”, the so-called fetal malformations among pregnant women experiencing prolonged persistent stress, doubles compared to pregnant women carrying a child in stress-free conditions. Very anxious mothers have an increased risk of having a premature baby with light weight. Children with this pathology may not survive at all. And if they survive, what kind of life awaits them? They experienced deformation of the body and all its functions in the intrauterine state. The child is unlikely to be healthy.

Consequences of hormonal changes in the body during pregnancy

In addition to external factors that cause stress in pregnant women, there are internal ones. This is a daily, hourly restructuring of your body in connection with pregnancy. Already in the first month of an interesting situation, you may begin to experience nausea. In the second month of pregnancy, frequent urination, constipation, vomiting, indigestion, heartburn, gas, lack of appetite or, conversely, excessive gluttony, fainting, and dizziness may occur. All of these symptoms are possible all at once, but only a few may appear. The above list may include mood swings, tears, touchiness, irritability, some vague worries and fears. In the fourth month, vomiting and nausea disappear from the list, but bleeding gums, headaches for no reason, runny nose, stuffy ears, as well as slight swelling in the legs will be added - the weight increases.

By the fifth month, awareness of one’s situation begins, and a feeling of euphoria comes. I experience attacks of irritability less and less often. The sixth month will bring with it an additional feeling of heaviness in the lower abdomen, as the ligaments that support the abdomen begin to tighten. Instead of irritability, absent-mindedness will appear. In the eighth month, fatigue from the state of pregnancy sets in. More and more often thoughts appear that everything will end sooner. The ninth month will delight you with fears of childbirth.

All of the above also causes some stress in the mother’s body, but stress is of a completely different order. These are shallow experiences that cannot somehow negatively affect the health of the mother-child tandem. In addition, small negative emotions contribute to the appearance of the hormone cortisol in the human body. As they say, any medicine can become poison - it's all a matter of dosage. Cortisol, in principle, is needed by a child for its normal development. But when the expectant mother is in a state of distress, too much cortisol enters her, and therefore the child’s, body. Doctors believe cortisol is to blame for pathologies in newborns.

How to relieve stress during pregnancy and improve your mood

So, what to do if emotions are overflowing and you are already worried about their excessive amount? First of all, go to the doctor - let him convince you that this is not that prolonged terrible stress, the consequences of which you need to worry about and take measures to get you out of this state (if, of course, this is really the case). When the doctor reassures you, take your own measures that can make you regain peace of mind and reduce your fears. Do not deny yourself communication with positive people - laughter is contagious, you can also get a good mood from ordinary women's conversations. Problems with work can be easily resolved if you decide that the child is more important. Talk to your boss about this without hurting anyone's ambitions. As an intelligent, wise woman, try to understand your husband, who himself is at a loss as to how to treat you during this period. Look for solutions that suit both of you. If the thought of childbirth scares you, take a special course. As they say, “you need to know the enemy by sight” and “forewarned is forearmed.” So arm yourself with knowledge to be less afraid.

Even simpler things can lift your spirits and add joy hormones to your body during this difficult period:

Allow yourself to be lazy, rest as often as possible, sleep as much as you want.

Adjust your diet to avoid losing teeth during pregnancy. Don't forget about vitamins. Listen to the doctor. Eat more fresh vegetables and fruits.

Take relaxing aromatherapy baths more often.

Talk a lot with anyone - this is how accumulated emotions spill out.

Read only positive literature good news. Women's novels are perfect for these purposes - there are always, as in good fairy tale, a happy ending.

Simple physical exercise can increase the amount of oxygen in your body and relieve irritation.

Remember, you have a serious mission - to bring a person into the world. And it is in your power to ensure that this person is born healthy.

Source - http://crazymama.ru

Stress, even in the normal state of a person, is a very serious test for any organism. What can we say about how difficult it is to tolerate during pregnancy. At this time, both external factors (cold and heat, hunger and thirst, physical activity, etc.) and emotional and psychological factors (resentment, fatigue, fear of childbirth, death of a loved one, etc.) can damage the nervous system. nervous tension and etc.). Any nervous stress during pregnancy is dangerous both for the health of the woman herself and for the condition of the child she is carrying.

It often happens that a pregnant woman does not even notice that she is under constant stress. She gets so used to it that she takes all her fears and worries for granted. Meanwhile, constant stress during pregnancy carries out its destructive work from the inside. Therefore, every expectant mother should be able to analyze her condition and pay attention to the main symptoms of stress:

• apathy, indifference to everything, lethargy;
• decreased performance;
• lack and loss of appetite;
• periods of inexplicable anxiety, nervousness;
• rapid heartbeat;
• dizziness;
• tremor of the limbs (trembling);
• decreased immunity - frequent colds.

If all this is the case, most likely, your condition is quite serious and requires immediate correction. Scientists have found that in a woman's body under stress during pregnancy, the amount of special hormones - glucocorticoids - increases significantly. And they affect not only genes, but also have a close connection with the functioning of the placenta. Accordingly, their consequences can be very serious.

What are the dangers of stress during pregnancy?

There are women who talk about the extreme stress they endured during pregnancy, which had absolutely no effect on the condition of their baby or the birth. These are very controversial situations, since the consequences can manifest themselves much later - problems can begin in a child at school or adolescence when serious changes occur in the psyche. Doctors have long explained how stress affects pregnancy and the future health of the baby. It can lead to the following consequences:

• small;
• premature birth;
• stress in late pregnancy provokes abnormalities in the formation of the child’s nervous system;
• problems of adaptation in a team;
• autism or hyperactivity;
• fears and phobias;
• stress in early pregnancy can lead to severe fetal hypoxia.
• enuresis;
• terrible birth anomalies - such as “cleft lip” or “cleft palate”;
• allergic and asthmatic reactions in a newborn;
• development of diabetes;
• cardiovascular diseases;

As you can see, being strong is a very serious test for both the baby and the expectant mother. Therefore, it is so important to try to avoid it by all means. Moreover, this should be understood not only by the woman herself, but first of all by those who surround her during this period of life.

How to avoid stress during pregnancy?

Both the doctor observing her and her family and friends should help a pregnant woman avoid the terrible consequences of a stressful condition. After all, her psycho-emotional state depends on the latter. Pregnancy is not the time for quarrels, hysterics, and certainly not divorce. To avoid nervous tension, the expectant mother needs to know methods that quickly and effectively restore peace of mind.

1. Learn to control your thoughts: stop thinking about the bad, expect only the negative. Tune in to the positive and think about a successful birth and your baby, whom you will soon hug. If you feel that you are not able to do this yourself, be sure to sign up for special training or go to a psychologist.
2. Don't be alone with your fears. Find someone you can tell everything to. Do not leave negativity in yourself, get rid of it by any means.
3. Walk more in the fresh air, do not forget to ventilate your room.
4. Eat well, especially plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables in your diet.
5. Sleep as much as you want.
6. Do physical exercise for pregnant women: special exercise, swimming, even yoga.
7. Communicate only with those people who are pleasant to you. Exclude from your social circle those who often offend you or simply annoy you.
8. Get plenty of rest, especially in the first months. While you are working, a lunch break is a must. Don’t work in the evenings: before going to bed, you need to learn to relax and get pleasant emotions from some favorite activity that gives you pleasure.
9. You can relax in different ways: discover the world of aromatherapy, sign up for a massage or acupuncture, or practice meditation.

Every woman who is preparing to become a mother should be very clear about the dangers of stress during pregnancy and why it is so important to avoid it by any means. To protect your baby from negative consequences, you need to be able to concentrate on the main thing - on your position, and try to ignore annoying little things and failures.