Managing Pregnancy Anxiety: Tips for a Calm and Happy Journey
- Pregnancy
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- UPDATED NOVEMBER 02, 2024
by Tasha Mayberry
610 shares
Worries and worries overcome every person. For a pregnant woman, they are especially important, as she begins to feel responsible for two. As a result, the expectant mother experiences enormous stress, which can greatly spoil her mood and well-being. How to protect yourself from unnecessary worries and easily survive 9 months of waiting for a miracle?
Women often experience anxiety even before pregnancy. For example, women may feel anxious before pregnancy as they monitor ovulation because they’re eager to conceive and often uncertain about timing. Many worry about potential challenges, like irregular cycles or missed ovulation windows, which can add pressure to each cycle. Using an ovulation tracker can help relieve some of this stress by providing a clear, reliable window of fertility. It empowers women with data, helping them understand their body’s patterns better and giving them a sense of control over the process. But then comes pregnancy and new worries appear. So let’s figure out how expectant mothers can help themselves cope with stress.
Stay active
Move – walk, and hike every day, especially in the evening. During physical activity, the body produces endorphins, which act as natural analgesics and antidepressants, improving mood and reducing the feeling of pain. As a result, activity helps not only physical health but also psychological state.
Moreover, sports also affect the production of cortisol, the stress hormone. Normally, cortisol is necessary for regulating many processes in the body, but with excessive emotional stress, its level can go off the scale, which leads to negative consequences for health. Research shows that physical activity helps reduce the level of cortisol in the blood. People who exercise regularly have lower levels of the stress hormone than those who do not exercise.
Maintain a sleep schedule
Get more sleep – a full night’s sleep every day can be supplemented with an afternoon nap if you feel the need for it. The closer the birth date, the harder it is for a woman to get enough sleep: a growing belly, frequent urge to urinate and anxious thoughts about the child prevent her from falling asleep. A comfortable pregnancy pillow, limiting fluid intake in the afternoon, and a calm, cozy home atmosphere will help cope with this condition.
Remember that lack of sleep is a lot of stress for any person. A state of sleep deprivation can cause various health disorders. Such disorders are fraught not only with a feeling of exhaustion, decreased attention, and physical and mental performance. The risk of complications increases significantly: cardiovascular pathologies, hormonal imbalance, tension in the uterine muscles, blood pressure surges, depression, and neurasthenia.
Be more attentive to yourself
You shouldn’t keep your emotions quiet and store them up in yourself, only to eventually explode over a trifle and unleash an avalanche of feelings on your husband, mother, mother-in-law, or cat. Worries, worries, and fears are completely normal when expecting a baby, and it’s best to share them with your family. Your loved ones will support you and help dispel anxious thoughts. Breathing exercises, meditations, and keeping a diary are excellent ways to calm down. You can also channel your emotions into creativity – draw, sew, knit.
Get support from others
Here we mean not only relatives and friends but also those who are in your position. In a circle of pregnant women, you can easily discuss the most pressing issues (for example, choosing a color for a nursery or finding a suitable ultrasound specialist) without worrying that your interlocutors are not interested in such topics.
If necessary, seek help from a psychologist. Sometimes it happens that a woman is unable to cope with the stress that has fallen on her. As a result, not only does she suffer, but also her husband, parents, and relatives, the situation in the family becomes tense, and the woman feels increasingly unhappy. Do not be embarrassed or afraid: timely participation of a therapist will help you unload from worries and concerns, find lost peace, enjoy the time of waiting for the baby, and prevent postpartum depression.
By following these simple rules, you will be able to deal with stress more effectively. Then pregnancy will bring only joy and a quick, long-awaited meeting with the baby.