Everyone of us knows stress. Whether an upcoming exam, problems in the relationship, a deadline at the office or a lot of hectic in everyday life. When the body has to be particularly efficient through all these and more situations, stress hormones are released.
These are the body’s own substances such as adrenalin, noradrenalin and dopamine. These put the body on the alert, so to speak, this is still a relic from the Stone Age. The heartbeat accelerates, breathing becomes shallower and we are ready to perform.
In some cases, and to a healthy degree, this can be beneficial in achieving one’s goals, but if stress takes over, it can have consequences for the entire organism. Stress during pregnancy is unavoidable, as the pregnant woman continues to participate in everyday life and, to some extent, in her professional life. Scientists suspect that mild stress can even be beneficial for the development of the child.
However, if the stress becomes too much, it can have serious consequences for the unborn child. These include developmental disorders, premature births, neurological disorders, ADHD and other diseases. The causes of increased stress during pregnancy are manifold.
Many expectant mothers worry about the well-being of the child and are concerned about the future. The physical changes cause the mother problems and her emotional stability is sometimes under attack. Illnesses such as depression or traumatic experiences also have a negative effect on the stress level. If you notice increased inner tension in your child, do not hesitate to talk to your doctor. Your doctor has a number of possibilities to reduce the stress.
Symptoms
Stress during pregnancy can cause many symptoms. However, these only occur if the stress persists for a long time. In the initial phase, the body is still extremely efficient and after some time it even develops a kind of resistance to the stress triggering factors (resistance phase).
If the stress remains however further existing then the body reacts sometime with extreme exhaustion, since the body was quasi the whole time in alert (exhaustion phase). Just this phase can bring strong physical and psychological damages with itself. Warning signals or symptoms include irritability, insomnia, cardiovascular problems such as palpitations or high blood pressure.
Difficulty breathing or a tightness in the chest. Gastrointestinal problems such as stomach pain, constipation, heartburn or loss of appetite, tension and pain such as joint pain, neck pain and headache, and other non-specific symptoms such as dizziness. Often the affected persons do not associate the symptoms with the increased stress level at first. Only if the symptoms do not disappear or if several symptoms occur simultaneously, many people go to the doctor. The article Headaches during pregnancy might be of interest to you.
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