5 Ways to Reduce Your Pregnancy Anxiety
15% of pregnant women experience anxiety whilst pregnant (that's 1 in 7).
AND these studies were completed before covid times.. so the numbers of pregnant folks with anxiety is likely to be even higher currently!
When you are anxious, worried or stressed then often your body will go into fight or flight mode – where all the oxygen will go out to the arms and legs and head and not to the placenta and the baby.
So we need to look at ways to reduce anxiety, and the good news is there are a number of things you can do. Here are our top 5 tips for anyone who is pregnant and feeling anxious.
1. PRACTISE RELAXATION
One of the things we can do to reduce any anxiety is to take regular time out for relaxation. Find what relaxation techniques work for you. We are all different! It might be learning some breathing techniques to slow down your breathing to help you get lots of oxygen down to your baby .. it might be listening to guided meditation that will also help you have some quiet time bonding with your baby. Relaxation is really effective and really important because, put very simply, when you are calm and relaxed.. so is your baby.
Getting into a deeply relaxed state is essential for when you are birthing your baby too.. it is not just your baby needing Oxygen but your muscles of your uterus need it to – so those contractions can work properly and effectively and to reduce any pain that you may be feeling. This is something we delve into more on our course… it's really important to know how your body works to birth your baby and how you can help your body do what it is perfectly designed to do. Practise is key… spending time practising your relaxation techniques is also just what you and baby need during those 9 months.
2. GAIN KNOWLEDGE
When we learn about something, i.e. how something works or how to do something, we feel more in control of that thing, and this can alleviate a huge amount of anxiety. We often learn that the thing we were worried about isn't actually something we need to worry about at all, and it was simply fear of the unknown that was fueling the anxiety or feeding the worst case scenarios going round our head! For many the birth can be a source of worry, so how about learning what your body does during labour and birth and learning some skills or techniques to help you to cope with contractions? We find many pregnant folks have reduced birth anxieties after we have spent time on this during our course.
3. TALKING
Talk to someone about any worries that you have – about being a new parent, or how your new baby will fit onto the family or how you are going to cope with birthing your baby if your partner isn’t there – because sometimes just simply talking about them can reduce them considerably and help you to be able to relax even further.. again this is something we do a lot on my course – and this will often make you feel much more in control and empowered to have a positive experience.
Get your birth partner involved in helping you to relax and talk to them about what you want to happen during labour and birth, how can they support you and how can they keep you calm and relaxed – think about getting away just the two of you so you have time and space to relax and talk about your birth plan.
4. LETTING GO
Sometimes you just cant do anything about that thing that is worrying you. If you can do something about it, then do something about it, but if you can't, then let it go. I know that sounds simple, but for many it can be difficult, especially when it is a deep seated subconscious fear or worry. At Antenatal Academy we go through how yu can change both the conscious mind and the subconscious mind to help you to have a positive experience. For those who want to let go of the subconscious fears hypnosis can work really well, which is why we teach hypnobirthing too.
5. POSITIVE MINDSET
Feeding your mind with the positive - positive birth stories, birth videos, books - will really help to remind you that it is possible for you to have a positive birth to. Where the focus goes the energy flows, and studies have shown that those who feed their minds with positive thoughts are likely to receive a wide range of health benefits, including better stress management and coping skills, enhanced psychological health, increased physical well-being, lower rates of depression and more.
Let us know what you do to help your mind and body reduce any anxiety and relax during pregnancy.
Debbie & Helen
Antenatal Academy
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