Pregnant mums who are stressed, are more likely to have unruly, short-tempered kids, because of the stress hormones present in their wombs. Read on to know how being frazzled affects your unborn baby and how you can curb this...

You take utmost care of yourself when you are pregnant by following the right diet, undergoing regular check-ups and sleeping well. But if you are getting stressed due to anxiety over your pregnancy and health of your foetus, arguments with in-laws or spouse, everyday hassles like paying bills, waiting in long queues and traffic, or more serious issues such as domestic abuse, relationship break-up or death of a loved one – then you need to take positive action to stem the situation.

Why You Must Avoid Stress
Stress during pregnancy, can harm you and your unborn in more ways than one. Your child might suffer from Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and other behavioural problems. ADHD symptoms are inattentiveness, hyperactivity, lack of self-control, and this might affect your child heavily in the long run. “Stress, to some extent, has become a breathe in and breathe out effort in our daily lives. It is an inseparable word from our life and makes its presence felt a fair amount during pregnancy, even when everything is just right. Though, it is a familiar part of a woman’s life, the problem is that most doctors don’t know how much stress is too much and for whom – mother or foetus...” voices Kolkata-based gynaecologist Dr Mitrasree Dasgupta.

Studies, which have been presented at the British Psychological Society’s annual conference in Glasgow, UK, have shown that kids of stressed-out mums grow up to be undisciplined and hot-tempered, thanks to the stress hormones that are present in the womb they develop in. They have emotional problems and they find it difficult to get along with other children. “They also suffer from anxiety disorder in childhood. Some scientists now believe that effect of life in the womb on emotional and physical health may be greater than that of genes we inherit. The conditions in the uterus, ranging from the mother’s hormones to the nutrients supplied through the placenta, may significantly determine how a baby’s vital organs like liver, heart, kidney, brain and mind will function in adulthood,” says Dr Dasgupta.

Mums who have been really stressed and unhappy during their pregnancy are likely to have a child who is ‘mixed-handed’ at the age of five. Mixed-handed people use one hand for tasks such as writing and another for things such as throwing and catching a ball. Stress can also cause premature birth and lower birth-weight babies. “Now we are finally beginning to understand the role of stress. A mother’s emotional state affects her unborn baby. We know extreme stress is bad for any living creature and that it can lead to disease and health degradation,” emphasises Dr Dasgupta. It can also lead a pregnant lady to drinking or smoking, which are extremely harmful when you are pregnant. Mental and physical disorders also follow suit, which makes one feel low and bogged down always. Stressed people get angry and irritated easily, which might also affect or hurt people around them. It causes a lot of appetite and poor eating habits, which is an area of major concern during pregnancy. Insomnia, fatigue, body aches, headaches, inability to relax and high blood pressure, are also results of high level stress. All these symptoms are extremely harmful for your unborn, and can affect him heavily in the long run.

“Stress is a silent disease and the problem lies with long-term tension. During stress, the hormone called cortisol is secreted. It helps the body deal with stressful conditions appropriately. Cortisol is released under the influence of Corticotropin Releasing Hormone (CRH) which in turn is secreted from Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal axis (HP Axis),” explains Dr Dasgupta. In general, cortisol helps your body deal with the stressful situation, but its long-term exposure to a foetus is still unknown. Long-term exposure in adults can lead to illness, depression, and exhaustion, that can lead to poor health including high blood pressure, heart disease and ulcers. Babies with higher cortisol exposure levels in utero had been found with lower IQ levels. Dr Dasgupta affirms, “It is good when everything is under control. However, long exposure to stressful conditions, particularly during pregnancy, has revealed many problems. It is found that as the stress level of the mother goes up, her serum cortisol level goes up, and proportionately, the cortisol level of the amniotic fluid also goes up. These high levels of cortisol could affect the development of the foetus’ brain, affecting the baby’s future social skills, language ability and memory. They also show lower mental development scores later, which is the result of a stressful pregnancy. Researchers have identified cortisol as a cause, ruling out the possibility that environmental factors after the baby was born had any effect on them. Cognitive function of the baby gets affected even later in life. It showed babies with higher cortisol exposure levels in utero had lower IQs and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).”

However, if we remain under stress for a long time, cortisol may be too much for our body to handle. Cortisol can cause increased heart rate (tachycardia), high blood pressure and chronic anxiety. “A mother’s excessive cortisol can reach the baby in the womb and raise the set point for blood pressure (BP). So, the baby may suffer from high BP in future. High level of stress can cause fatigue, sleeplessness, anxiety, poor appetite or overeating, headache, backache, and in the long run – high BP, heart disease, resistance to infection. Stress in childhood may modify developmental trajectories and have a long-term effect on disease risk,” warns Dr Dasgupta.

Maternal stress during pregnancy is also found to cause assymetry in co-ordination of ears, fingers, feet, elbows etc. As a result, IQ is lower, leading to problems of perception thinking and memory. Many mothers, during pregnancy, face extremely stressful circumstances. They are confronted with breakup of their marriage, physical and mental abuse, open infidelity or uninvolved and non-supportive partners. The constant stress of shame, loneliness, disgrace, etc, can lead to clinical depression needing psychiatric help. Babies of these mothers are exposed to a variety of stress hormones, toxins, malnutrition inside the womb. Some of them will continue to live in the same or often worse, obnoxious environment. “These babies tend to become hyperactive or inactive, inattentive, temperamental, with poor self-control. They may need anti-depressants later in their life. There are also immune-related problems (IgE-excessive in cord blood), such as allergies and asthma. Cells become more susceptible to inflammation due to increased cellular permeability through cell membrane. Inflammatory markers are high, such as C-Reactive Protein (CRP). Autism, learning defects, seizure disorders are also seen,” informs Dr Dasgupta.