Can Work Stress Affect Pregnancy?

Pregnancy is absolutely a blissful time. Yet, bringing a new being into this world is never an uncomplicated task. Pregnancy can create different feelings and it is usually quite difficult to quantify stress. Sometimes stress can be normal but it does interfere during pregnancy.

It is normal to feel stressed when pregnant since there would be changes happening in your body. Yet on the other hand if the stress becomes invariable then the effects on the baby could be permanent. If there are continuous levels of stress, it can affect your baby. Many mothers do face stress and clinical depression during pregnancy.

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Studies have shown that stress can play a part in maternal health as well as in foetal health. A pregnant woman whose job requires her to stand for long hours without a break has a greater risk of early labour. Mother’s stress does harm the foetus. Here are a few things to note about how work stress affects pregnancy.

Harmful Effects On The Brain
It is quite normal to fret about what you eat or drink and being concerned about your baby’s health. If you work for more than 32 hours a week in a stressful job, there is chance of you risking the health of the unborn child.

So, it is important to know whether you are truly up to the task of motherhood. Stress experienced by women during pregnancy can bear its influence for 17 weeks after conception. And this means there is the possibility of it having damaging effects on the brain and development of the baby.

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Low-Birth-Weight Baby
During pregnancy your body goes through a lot of changes and when hormones tend to change so does the mood. When there is too much of stress there would be trouble sleeping and even loss of appetite and this could be harmful for the developing baby.

A high level of stress can cause high blood pressure which creates a greater risk of causing pre-term labour. Studies have shown that increased stress can negatively impact the pregnancy causing complications like low birth weight.

Pre-Eclampsia
Pregnant women who work for long hours tend to face greater risk of developing pre-eclampsia. Preclampsia was formerly known toxemia. It is a condition that pregnant women develop due to work stress. This condition usually appears in the second half of pregnancy especially during second or third trimesters. It can even occur in advance.

Miscarriage
Stress can cause brains to secrete hormones called corticotropin. Researchers have revealed that stress also increases the intensity of a hormone called cortisol in the mother. These together may cause a miscarriage in the early pregnancy,

These are some of the conditions about how work stress can affect pregnancy.