Five ways to reduce anxiety in pregnancy
Pregnancy is transformative and the beginning of a journey that will be the most meaningful experience of your life.
Many women and their partners ‘fantasise’ about pregnancy, childbirth and parenthood – dreaming about what it should look and feel like.
They may dream of how relaxed and empowering it will be, doing it all by themselves without anyone else’s interference. At the same time this fantasy may also be filled with fears and worries. There may be visions of pain, losing control, problems with baby or life-threatening complications.
So, with that said, anxiety in pregnancy is a normal emotional response to the nature of bearing a child and coming to terms with pending parenthood – but debilitating anxiety that has prolonged feelings of worry and obsession is not normal and may be a sign of an anxiety disorder that may require professional treatment.
There are things you can do in your pregnancy to keep anxiety at bay.
Relaxation practices
There are many ways you can learn how to relax through specific techniques and lifestyle adjustments that promote a relaxation response in the body. Relaxation techniques include hypnosis, breathing, guided meditations, aromatherapy, sound therapy and movement. You can also choose to do things in your day that relax you the most. For example, this might be that you take warm baths more often, do some baking, hug your pet, go for daily walks in nature, eat your meals in the garden, listen to an audiobook or watch a funny movie.
Exercise
In the past, the medical community was cautious to advise exercise for pregnant women, but this is very outdated now and research shows that exercise is in fact incredibly important for healthy pregnancies. It is advised that pregnant women do at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise a day. The best thing you can do is incorporated walking in your day. If you don’t have time for dedicated walk, then find ways where you can replace car trips with walking trips instead. Everyday chores can also be turned into an exercise regime with a little more intention about them. For example, cleaning the house, gardening or sweeping the verandas.
Emotional counselling
Given the hopes and fears that arouse in a pregnant mama’s mind almost daily, it is a really a time where you need extra emotional support. While your partner can provide this to you in some ways, in others your closeness makes it very difficult for them to be patient and remain continuously objective and calm. For this reason, consider using a professional such as a counsellor, or pregnancy and labour coach such as doula. Professionals who are trained in childbirth can calmly and skillful help you cope with the demands of pregnancy and childbirth and be a reassuring and constant presence for you when you need it.
Mind body practices and complementary therapies
Investing in practices and techniques that bring mind, body and spirit together are a holistic way of dealing with the impact that negative thoughts can have on the human body complex. Modalities like yoga not only incorporate exercise movement, but relaxation and mindfulness techniques that are shown to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression. There are also modalities such as naturopathy, reiki, homeopathy, kinesiology, traditional chinese medicine and ayurveda that deal with the bringing the mind body spirit complex back into balance through energy healing, dietary changes and herbal remedies.
Psychological therapies
More severe cases of anxiety may need treatment with cognitive behavioural therapy, relaxation training, mindfulness practices and other forms of psychiatric therapies including the possibility of medication.