Pregnancy stress busters

  Five strategies to relieve stress while pregnant

In a perfect world, every mama-to-be would automatically be granted a nine-month exemption from workplace stress, relationship snafus, and other anxiety-making situations. Since that’s not likely to happen any time soon, you’ll want to master these five pregnancy stress busters instead.

1. Hit the gym. According to the American College of Obstetrician of Gynecologists, exercising during pregnancy helps to reduce stress, improves your overall health and fitness, gives you a much needed-energy boost, and can help to ward off a smorgasbord of different pregnancy-related complaints. Of course, you’ll want to ensure that your workout is pregnancy-friendly. That means avoiding high-risk activities that could result in injury or a lack of oxygen to your baby. Your best bets? Walking, stationary cycling, aquafit, stair machines, and low-impact aerobics.

2. Line up a pregnancy "mentor." Much of the stress of pregnancy comes from being unsure about what’s normal and what’s not during this weird yet wonderful time in your life. In addition to turning to your doctor or midwife for support and information, you might want to take the advice of Jennifer Louden, author of The Pregnant Woman’s Comfort Book (HarperCollins) and line up a pregnancy mentor — a woman who is either pregnant herself (ideally a few months ahead of you) or who has recently given birth. Having someone to turn to for from-the-trenches advice can help to alleviate a lot of your anxiety. That’s the magic of tapping into mom-to-mom support.

3. Learn how to meditate. Studies have shown that meditation can help to reduce stress, relieve pain, lower both your blood pressure and your heart rate, and improve the quality of your sleep. When you’re ready to meditate, simply find a comfortable, distraction-free place to sit; set a timer for five minutes (you’ll gradually want to work up to 20 minutes); place your hands on your belly; close your eyes; and focus on the sound of your breathing until the timer goes off. That should get you started on the road to relaxation.

4. Practice your relaxation breathing. Speaking of breathing, it’s also a good idea to practice your relaxation breathing (a.k.a. "labor breathing") on a regular basis. Not only will it serve you well on "labor day": it can also help to keep your stress level down while you’re pregnant. Put one hand on your abdomen and practice breathing all the way into your abdomen so that your hand rises and falls while you breathe. Once you’ve mastered that, try breathing deeply and pausing slightly before you exhale. Then, as you exhale, slowly count to four. After five to ten minutes, you’ll find that your breathing gradually slows down, your body starts to relax, and your mind begins to feel calmer.

5. Treat yourself to a massage. Not only does having a massage help to relieve backaches, leg cramps, headaches, and other pregnancy-related aches and pains: it also soothes and relaxes the nervous system by releasing endorphins into your body. So if you’ve ever needed a reason to book a massage or hand that bottle of massage oil to your partner, you’ve now got the best excuse ever: motherhood.

About the author:
Ann Douglas is an award-winning journalist and the author of 27 books on pregnancy and parenting. She is the creator and author of the bestselling "The Mother of All" Books series. Known for her lively anecdotes and real-world advice, Ann is an "Expert Mom" here at ClubMom, the "Misconceptions" columnist for Conceive Magazine, and a contributor to numerous other parenting Websites and magazines. She is also a much sought after speaker who is recognized for her ability to entertain and inspire her audiences and to get to the heart of the issues of greatest concern to parents today.

http://www.clubmom.com

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