Importance of Happiness during Pregnancy

 

Importance of Happiness during Pregnancy - 

                   Stress in Pregnancy takes a toll on the Child

A successful pregnancy and labour, and the birth of a healthy baby, are the responsibilities of both the parents to an equal degree. A baby’s health depends to a large extent on the health of its parents at the moment of conception, their lifestyle before conception as well as mental wellbeing of parents. Starting a family is a time of reassessment because becoming a parent will fundamentally change your life. Happy, healthy parents make, happy, healthy children, so make sure you are fit for parenthood.

As more and more women are multi-tasking and as nuclear family is now a preferred choice amongst young couples, pregnancy in the 21st century is a different kettle of fish – especially for first-time mums. There’s so much keeping up to the mark, so many checks to worry about, pressure to keep a job while carrying a baby, unavoidable anxiety about the birth, the baby, money, managing household etc. Anxiety is a much greater factor for a pregnant woman than it used to be and many women feel it. Data suggests that there are 13% women ­experiencing anxiety at some point during pregnancy, which is more than one in 10. Often anxiety takes the form of distressing, unwanted thoughts, images, impulses, or urges that pop suddenly into your mind.

 A woman is the embodiment of the Holy Mother and Motherhood is the most rewarding experience for the ladies. Pregnancy and the feel of the child should give the woman a sense of great joy and emotional fulfilment. It is important to pay attention to the emotional life of to be mothers. Care and support to ensure mothers’ happiness during the periods of pregnancy and breastfeeding are incredibly important. The first support should come from the family. Husbands have a key role to play in helping stressed mothers. They must develop acceptance and non-judgmental attitudes to help their partners. As mothers feel they are being understood, they can start to overcome their problems on a daily basis at home before seeking professional help. The scary thing is having any ­perinatal mental health problem can carry stigma and shame, which makes it hard for a woman to open up.

Indian scriptures has given a lot of importance to mental health of a pregnant mother. In the ancient Indian scripture Mahabharata, Arjuna teaches the great warfare technique called Padmavyuha to his pregnant wife Subhadra and the child in the womb, Abhimanyu learns it. Even Ayurveda and modern medicine has shown importance of wellbeing of mother during pregnancy. Pregnant women are at a higher risk of negative feelings, and even depression, due to hormonal changes that affect their state of mind. Excessive worrying and negative feelings might start taking a physical, mental and emotional toll on a pregnant woman and her baby’s health. However, by being a positive person, one gets to focus on the changes happening in their lives and cope with all the stress that comes along during this phase better.

 Studies suggests that foetal exposure to prenatal maternal stress or anxiety affects a key part of the baby’s developing nervous system – leaving it more vulnerable to psychological and perhaps medical illness in later life.

One theory suggests that anxiety or stress in pregnancy increases the mother’s own levels of cortisol, which passes on to the foetus and influences the baby’s brain development, notably its stress response system. These changes to the stress response system may make children more susceptible to a range of psychological and medical problems. The investigators suspect that elevated stress hormones that mark depression and anxiety may shape foetal brain development in a way that even disturbs early-life sleep patterns. Sleep problems have, for instance, been linked to a higher risk of behavioural problems and learning difficulties in childhood.

It is clear that psychosocial, cultural and environmental stressors experienced during gestation can be detrimental to pregnancy and maternal and foetal health, and recent studies suggest that prenatal stress can have consequences that span generations. Prenatal stress can range from severe traumatic experience to moderate stress experience of life event changes due to stressed interpersonal relationship to mild stress experience of daily hassles; every individual has different level of handling stress as well as the capacity of dealing with it.The concept of a psychosocial stressor encompasses changes in, for example, personal life, job status, housing, domestic violence and family makeup which require adaptive coping behaviour on the part of the affected individual. The majority of human studies show that mild, moderate and severe stress can have negative influences on pregnancy outcome and the behavioural and physiological development of offspring. It is essential that you keep yourself satisfied and happy during all three trimesters. This directly affects the baby’s development. Current situation of global pandemic has created lot of anxiety amongst mankind hence, pregnant mothers have to ensure that all efforts are taken to channelize only positive energy during this time.

Garbha sanskar is all about keeping yourself in a good state emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually for the sake of your growing baby. To do this, I suggest, listening to serene music, good reading, think positive, being stress-free, eating healthily, yoga, meditation and prayer, being creative, developing a good hobby and communicating regularly with your unborn child .

Suggestion from Occupational Therapists Desk - Preganant women should rock in a rocking chair for five to ten minutes twice a day. At any time in life , rocking is a pleasant way to infuence the vestibular system. During pregnancy, it helps to form mature vestibular system.

The message is very clear, “let’s take stress and anxiety during pregnancy very seriously,”

Dr Mona Shah

Occupational Therapist , Clinical Psychologist