Support your child's health when you reduce stress during pregnancy
During pregnancy, a mother’s stress can adversely affect the development of her child. It’s commonly understood that stress can cause premature labor as well as low birth rate.
Stress hormones, like cortisol and adrenaline, are easily passed from mother to fetus. This can impact the child’s stress responses later on, increasing susceptibility to anxiety and allergies, for example.
Brain development begins as early as 14 days after conception. By the 2nd trimester, the brain stem, or the primitive part of the brain, forms, the part of the brain ultimately responsible for autoregulation such as breathing and digestion. Injury to this region during development can compromise of the functioning of these systems later on.
Because of the brain’s plasticity, creating new neural networks is possible. However, damage due to prenatal stress could leave your child susceptible to otherwise preventable diseases. Ultimately, when mom minimizes stress during pregnancy, it can potentially change the health outcomes of her child.
Ways to Minimize Stress
When was the last time you breathed with awareness and intention?
One of the best ways to minimize stress is through conscious breath awareness. Slow, steady and full breaths reduce stress nearly immediately.
Physiologically, conscious breathing helps balance the sympathetic (flight, flight or freeze) and the parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous systems. It also helps a mom be present.
Adopting a regular breath awareness practice during pregnancy not only reduces stress, it also prepares a mom for birth and motherhood.
Source: Kathy Kain, PhD and Stephanie J. Terrell, Nurturing Resilience. North Atlantic Books (Berkley, Ca. 2018)