Hi everyone, in today's video.
we're going to be talk enough stress during pregnancy and
the impact the stress has on fetal and child health.
Pregnancy is
often considered a happy and positive experience. With the socio-economic
personal and social context surrounding a pregnancy may cause me,
and I can kind of stress and worry about employment
with her.
Also continued education and the lack of civil union partner
support and the list goes on and on.
And in particular many women worry about whether or not
the stress that they're experiencing impact the health of their
babies.
Before we begin,
looking at what we searched thing on the topic.
Let's take a look at the statistics on stress and
depression during pregnancy.
According to Mood Canada Disorders, 10% of Canadian,
women will experience depression during pregnancy.
And in one US study,
they looked at 1500 pregnant woman and they found that
78% were experiencing low to moderate stress,
while 6% were experiencing high amounts of stress.
What usually happens when a person experiences stress is that
their brain triggers a release of a cascade of stress
hormone and hormones are these chemical messengers,
that travel around your body until your organs tissues and cells
to function and respond in a particular way.
So, with respect respect to stress hormones?
We see the following symptoms such as shaking,
increased heart rate,
dilation of the pupils and suppression of the immune system.
Scientists have proposed many mechanisms to explain how maternal
stress affects fetal and child health.
But in particular,
one mechanism is getting a lot of attention from researchers.
Let's take a look at what this response looks like.
Showed here is a region in the brain called
the hypothalamus.
The hypothalamus is responsible for regulating hunger,
thirst, sleep,
and body temperature. As a response,
to social threatening experiences
and even in situations that are interpreted as unpredictable
and uncontrollable, the hypothalamus releases a hormone
called corticotrophin releasing hormone or for short CRH.
CRH travels to the gland right below called the pituitary gland, triggering the release
of another hormone called adrenal cortical trophin
or for short ACTH.
This hormone travel in the body and go to the
adrenal cortex.
We have two of these, one on each kidney and
ACTH stimulates the release of cortisol in the bloodstream.
And cortisol is involved in breaking down proteins,
inhibiting bone formation and suppressing immunity,
In healthy pregnancy, the body prepares both the mother and the foetus for the stressful
experience of birth by increasing the level of cortisol in the blood.
And although the placenta is also secreting cortisol,
it actually acts as a barrier, thus protecting the foetus from the actions of cortisol.
However, when the levels of cortisol become excessive, as in the case
with prolonged stress, cortisol crosses,
the placenta. What happens next?
Well in animal models, researchers were able to find a link
between cortisol levels,
and offspring outcomes.
But in humans, this is not entirely understood yet.
However,
evidence from Human studies reveals that maternal stress during pregnancy
can have negative health outcomes on the offspring.
So what is research saying on the role of stress during pregnancy on child and
fetal health? Well, two researchers from University of Zurich in Switzerland,
recently published a paper,
reviewing research up-to-date on stress during pregnancy.
And they found the following: women exposed to stress during
pregnancy were more likely to have a preterm delivery and
have babies that were lower birth weight.
Infants and children,
who were exposed to stress during pregnancy were more likely
to show emotional behavior
problems,
hyperactivity and attention deficit.
They're also more likely to show increased risk of
infections and have ear, skin and respiratory diseases.
Infants also are more likely to have reduced brain volume,
head circumference and in childhood have a reduced IQ
There are clearly many negative health outcomes associated with stress
during pregnancy, but it's very important to note that in the research
studies, they measure stress in different ways.
And so, there are some limitations to the results of
these finding.
But there is good news.
Not all women who encounter stress during pregnancy would have babies
that show these adverse health outcomes.
If you are pregnant and experiencing stress,
there are several things that you can do for yourself,
and for your baby.
First thing you can do is visit a doctor and
tell him or her
all about your symptoms. Another thing you can do is talk
to a trusted friend or partner,
or a family member. Also consider participating in yoga relaxation,
meditation classes and exercises.
There is some evidence that suggests that women who use these
mind-body therapies like meditation, relaxation and yoga
or more likely to have to favourable birth outcomes.
In one study,
they found that woman who used these mind- body therapies
or more likely to have a reduced duration of labor
and babies that were higher birth weight.
Thank you so much for watching!
I hope this video shed some light on stress during
pregnancy and its role on fetal and child health.
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Demystifying Medicine.