A lack of sleep is a health concern for anyone, but this is especially true when you’re pregnant. Not only does a lack of sleep affect your wellbeing, it can also have a negative impact on your baby’s wellness. At the very least, the troubled sleep and waking up in the middle of the night that comes with pregnancy can make you feel tired and irritable, and the worst thing is that it’s all downhill from here. Aside from the fact that you will barely ever catch a full night’s sleep once you have your baby, it is later in the pregnancy that most sleep related issues begin. According to a detailed survey undertaken by National Sleep Foundation, four out of every five women complain about sleep troubles, be it due to increased heartbeat, shortness of breath, hormonal changes and/or increased bulk which made the woman uncomfortable. So, with these issues in mind, how on earth can you sleep better?
1. Do Not Nap Frequently: You will constantly feel the urge to nap during your first trimester, but Dr. Grace Pien, a sleep researcher at University of Pennsylvania’s Centre for Sleep and Respiratory Neurobiology, warns against it. Pien points out that naps make you less tired at night, which means you’re not physically or mentally ready to crash when bedtime rolls around. Having a strict sleeping schedule – rather than making up for things with napping – means you’re less likely to find it difficult to fall asleep at night or end up waking in the middle of the night.
2. Get More Comfortable: Your body produces a hormone called Relaxin during pregnancy so that you are more ready for childbirth, but a side effect of this is that your ligaments are looser. This means that you end up having several aches and pains, which make it very difficult to get comfortable enough to drift off to sleep. Don’t sleep on your back or your belly, as this will only make you more uncomfortable. Rather, it’s a good idea to sleep on your side and buy a body pillow that supports your belly while you sleep.
3. Deal with Stress: Pregnancy is a very worrisome time in which you’re constantly thinking about giving birth, raising a child and the impact that motherhood will have on your life – it’s no wonder that you can’t sleep! UCSF professor Dr. Kathryn Lee explains that there’s a deep relationship between poor sleep patterns in pregnant women and the complications that arise during labour. She says, ‘When you are exhausted, your muscles get tired,’ and this is exacerbated by stress. Tired muscles make it tougher to push more effectively when you go in to labour, so going to bed with a calm mind becomes extremely important. Lee recommends trying yoga and meditation, as these techniques have been shown to help pregnant women unwind and establish a more regular sleep pattern.
4. Don’t Drink Too Much Before Bed: While a lot of mothers-to-be end up drinking a lot of water to keep hydrated, pregnancy itself causes a more frequent urge to urinate, so all that water isn’t helping matters. This is because your kidneys are working harder to filter blood for you and your baby, and an enlarged belly puts pressure on the bladder. Yes, you should carry on drinking plenty of water during the day, but after 4pm you should cut down your intake of fluids. So long as you get all of your fluid requirements in the first half of the day, your sleep won’t be disturbed by several trips to the bathroom at night.
