Stress is the adaptive response of the organism to factors that generate tension or anxiety. *

Stress in pregnancy

Stress is positive because it can give us the strength to face new challenges, but when it accumulates it becomes negative and can produce a series of disorders in our organism, such as fatigue, sleep, anxiety, decreased or increased appetite, headache, low back pain , Increased blood pressure, increased frequency of infectious diseases, etc.

You can have more stress in pregnancy by:

• Hormonal changes, which cause us emotional instability.
• Problems at home: family violence, lack of support from the couple, violent arguments, death of a relative.
• Labor and / or economic problems.
• Stress through the delivery, the health of our baby, complications that we may have during pregnancy or during labor.

The stress hormone, cortisol, crosses the placenta and diffuses through the amniotic fluid. Being increased could cause some damage to the baby, which would not usually be immediate.

Among the possible complications that we could have due to the stress in the pregnancy are:

• Decreased child’s IQ.
• Increased risk of preterm birth.
• Low birth weight.
• Spontaneous abortions.
• Children anxious, with attention deficit and hyperactivity.

Recommendations

Pregnant women can better control stress if they are healthy and in good physical shape. They should eat a healthy diet, sleep enough and avoid alcohol, cigarettes and drugs. They should also exercise regularly.

A good support network (including for example the couple of the pregnant woman, her family and relatives, friends and others) can also help pregnant women relieve their stress.

* Written by Dr. Maribel Dextre Altez, taken from the Peruvian Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology.