Pregnancy brings along with itself a gamut of changes for a woman and these can be both emotional and physical. One common thing that most pregnant females experience is feeling fatigued and tired most of the time and this leads to a feeling of sleepiness. But what is unusual is that a lot of females experience insomnia during pregnancy.
Pregnancy insomnia is a problem in which females are not able to sleep during the night even inspite of feeling tired. This problem even gets worse during the third trimester and it is important to deal with it. This problem affects about 75% of expectant mothers. The following are some important things to know about pregnancy insomnia:
What causes Pregnancy Insomnia?
The main cause of pregnancy insomnia is a combination of hormonal changes, heartburn and frequent trips to the bathroom. Some other reasons why one may experience pregnancy insomnia are leg cramps and pre-birth anxiety.
What you can do about Pregnancy Insomnia:
The following are some of the things that you can do to deal with pregnancy insomnia:
- Clear the Emotional Decks-if you have a lot of worries about pregnancy and birth, then you might feel a lot of emotional baggage due to which you may find it difficult to sleep at night. Thus it is important to clear the emotional decks and sort your issues out during the day itself. Writing the issues out on a piece of paper will also help to clear the emotional passages.
- Avoid Caffeine and Chocolate-if you have caffeine or chocolate during the day or the evening, then you might find it difficult to fall asleep in the night. So avoid having coffee or any other caffeinated drink and rather have a light snack.
- Work it out- exercising regularly during pregnancy or going for a walk everyday can help to deal with pregnancy insomnia.
- Soothe yourself- In order to make yourself sleep in the night time, make sure you do everything possible to soothe yourself. Try having a warm bath before going to bed or have a warm glass of milk. Listen to a calming music piece or get a prenatal massage from your partner. These techniques may really help to fall asleep.
- If you are unable to sleep, then get up- a lot of females try to sleep so desperately that they may totally lose sleep for the entire night. Try falling asleep for about half an hour, but after that, get up and accomplish an ending task. This may make you feel tired again and might put you to sleep.
- Don’t use sleep aids-it is not best to rely on over the counter medicines to prevent insomnia during pregnancy. These can be very dangerous during pregnancy and can cause side effects.
- Get comfortable-in order to sleep during pregnancy, do everything possible to get comfortable. Wear comfortable clothes, arrange pillows to support your body and let enough air circulate through the room during the night time.
