Pre-Pregnancy Stress May Affect Baby's Size And Birth Weight

A recent study finds that the stress hormone levels of a woman before pregnancy may greatly lead to yet to babies having lower birth weight. This is linked to the sporadic levels of cortisol, a hormone the body releases during stressful situations.

Health Day reports that researchers from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) found out that the hormone level is high in the morning and steadily goes down at the end of the day. The study finds out that there have been cases where some people recorded low cortisol levels the moment they wake up and only decrease a bit for the rest of the day. That erratic pattern is often been linked to cancer, repeated stress and other diseases. 

The researchers analyze health indicators of 142 pregnant moms. It includes assessment of their blood pressures, their weight and body mass index, saliva and their stress levels.

They found out that this abnormal behavior of cortisol levels can greatly affect the weight of your yet to be born baby. "We found that the same cortisol pattern that has been linked with chronic stress is associated with delivering a baby that weighs less at birth," explained research lead and post-doctorate scholar, Christine Guardino.

Rick Nauert of PsychCentral reported that according to the study's co-lead Dr. Chris Dunkel Schetter, during a normal pregnancy, a women's cortisol levels naturally increase by two or four times. The problem lies when it increases beyond its usual range, the effects could be damaging for the baby. It can either affect the baby's childbirth weight or can pose alarming response of the child to stress as they grow up.

That is why Dr. Schetter strongly recommends proper pregnancy preparation to soon to be moms. "Improving preconception health can profoundly improve our overall health," she said. "Women should treat depression, evaluate and treat stress, be sure they are in a healthy relationship, be physically active, stop smoking and gather family support. All of the things that create an optimal pregnancy and healthy life for the mother should be done before getting pregnant."