Not getting enough sleep during pregnancy can have serious side-effects, a new study reveals.
Pregnancy is associated with sleep disruption and insomnia, especially among depressed women, and the effects can be much worse than exhaustion.
A lack of sleep can harm the body's immune system by causing the overproduction cytokines, molecules that communicate among immune cells.
For most people, excess cytokines will attack and destroy healthy cells, leaving the body unable to fight off diseases. For pregnant women, they can disrupt the spinal arteries leading to the placenta, increasing the likelihood of birth complications such as premature birth, vascular disease and depression.
Why sleep is difficult during pregnancy:
- Hormonal changes. Pregnancy is a time of many hormonal shifts, which change sleep cycles and can disrupt sleep. Rising levels of progesterone can cause respiratory changes that disrupt sleep, as well as more sleepiness during the day, leaving women unusually wakeful at night. Fluctuating levels of estrogen also cause physiological changes that interfere with sleep.
- Pain and discomfort. Lower back pain, nausea, heartburn and other physical discomforts can often interfere with sleep. Having to get up to go to the bathroom
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