Pregnancy stress causes behaviour disorders in kids
Worrying about your to-be-born baby’s health and well being? Don’t. Your fears just might come true.
A British study has found that stressed-out pregnant women’s babies grow up to have emotional and behavioural problems.
The study, by researchers from Imperial College London, shows that it’s important that to-be mothers stay happy because a negative emotional state at the time of pregnancy could seriously hamper the child’s mental development. In fact, it could even lead to problems such as depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and also learning handicaps.Couples expecting a new addition to the family may well be advised to avoid arguments and heated rows. For, stress due to disharmony with her partner affects a woman and her baby much more than other stressors, the researchers found.
This could be because of the levels of stress hormone cortisol in the mother’s body. During pregnancy, placenta protects the baby from this hormone by secreting an enzyme that breaks it down. However, if the levels of cortisol released are too high, the enzyme cannot keep up, thereby exposing the foetus to the stress hormone.
According to the researchers, exposure to cortisol in the placenta reduces the baby’s cognitive development after birth. Worse, it is associated with even violent behaviour later in life.
Vivette Glover, the lead author of the study, said, “We all know that if a mother smokes or drinks a lot of alcohol while pregnant, it can affect her foetus. Our work has shown that other more subtle factors, such as her emotional state, can also have long-term effects on her child. Stress due to the mother’s relationship with her partner can be particularly damaging. Fathers…can help with the development of their child even before the birth, by helping their partner stay happy.”
The message is clear: Happy mothers have happy babies.
