Emotions and Pregnancy | What Happens When You Have A Negative Emotion During Pregnancy?

In this article, you will learn about How Emotions Affect The Fetus: What Happens When You Have A Negative Emotion During Pregnancy? Also, you will be able to find out how you get rid of negative emotions during Pregnancy.

How Emotions Affect The Fetus: What Happens When You Have A Negative Emotion During Pregnancy?

Emotions have a great effect on a fetus during pregnancy. When you are happy and relaxed, it gives your baby an environment in which he/she develops happily. However, emotions like stress and anxiety can increase particular hormones in your body, which can affect your baby's developing body and brain.

What is the role of emotions during pregnancy?

Under the ambit of “hormonal stress”, "cortisol" is a key hormone that is passed on from mother to child. Cortisol plays a key role in maintaining maternal hormonal balance during pregnancy. The levels of cortisol increase during early-stage pregnancy and decrease during later stages, which helps in keeping your baby safe during pregnancy.

Role of Cortisol Hormone:

Cortisol increases with food intake, menstruation, and menstruation hiatus, during pregnancy and again during lactation. During pregnancy, elevated cortisol affects the development of the fetal brain. The brain of the fetus is being prepared from the time of conception through maternal hormones and their influence on fetal physiology.

How do emotions affect the fetus during pregnancy?

Emotions have an effect on the hormones in your body. Hormones are substances that help the body with its natural functions and reactions. Emotions can be either positive or negative.

Positive emotions like happiness, joy, gratitude, hope, etc., have positive effects on a baby’s development while negative emotions like anger, fear, stress, anxiety, or depression have very drastic effects on the fetus during the pregnancy.

Some Emotions can Affect the Baby's Heartbeat

The brain and the heart are linked, and they're also directly related to one another. When a mother feels stressed or anxious, her baby's heart rate slows down. When the mother has a positive feeling, it will affect the baby's heart rate.

Mentally stressful events can also have an effect on the baby's brain.

What are the effects of stress and anxiety during pregnancy?

Children who have experienced a lot of emotional stress and anxiety during their entire life are likely to develop memory and behavioral issues. The older the child, the more challenging it becomes to manage the situation. Such children are prone to stress and anxiety as per the study done by the researchers from the University of Texas Health Science Centre.

More research is required to understand the brain changes that are caused by a mother's stress and anxiety during pregnancy.

What can you do about stress and anxiety during pregnancy?

Get yourself some stress management tools and do a deep breathing exercise. You can also walk or exercise your stress.

If you are feeling constantly stressed and anxious, you need to see your doctor for an examination.

How can you reduce stress and anxiety during pregnancy?

• Talk to your partner, loved ones, and friends.
• Seek out professional help from a counselor.
• Eat well and exercise regularly.
• Avoid tobacco and alcohol during pregnancy.
• If you suffer from depression, it is also a good idea to consult your family physician.

How to reduce negative emotions?

We often like to get angry, but anger makes our emotions worse. Instead of getting angry, try to feel emotions like love, empathy, and peace. If your negative emotions are too severe, it can be dangerous. If you need help, a good therapist can help you to find ways to reduce your emotions to a more healthy range.

Conclusion

Emotions are very dynamic biological and psychological processes. All kinds of emotions are supported by the brain and body, which produce various hormones that impact your body and mind. Feelings that bring joy are very helpful for the baby to develop and thrive during pregnancy.

Now that you know, what kind of emotions you can feel during pregnancy, you can make sure you don't experience any kind of stress during pregnancy. It is very important for you to enjoy this special time of your life and take pleasure in your pregnancy, as this is the only life you get to spend with your baby.

All the best for your pregnancy. You are doing great and we wish you a safe and happy delivery.

Reading the above article should give you a better idea about what is a normal pregnancy and what is not.