Good vs Bad Stress

Stress is not only a natural but also a completely inevitable aspect of life, let alone pregnancy. Dealing with discomfort, aches and pains, morning sickness, mood swings, and the worries of parenthood will make it nearly impossible to avoid stress during your pregnancy journey. But this isn’t a bad thing.

There is such a thing as ‘good stress’, and it’s vital to a healthy life. However, there is also ‘bad stress’, but we are here to tell you how to eliminate if as much as you can from your daily life.

Good Stress

Good stress exists and can be feelings such as excitement, when your heart rate spikes and your breath becomes caught, such as on a first date. This is stress but without threat or fear. This kind of stress is often short-lived but inspires and motivates you and can allow you to focus your energy more easily.

Some other benefits include that mild to moderate stress can boost cognitive function, improving working memory, and the short-term information you use to complete everyday tasks like recalling someone’s phone number [1].

Bad Stress

Bad stress can be either short-term (acute) or long-term (chronic) and can wear you out, leaving you tired and lacking motivation. This type of stress is bad for you but also could be bad for your baby.

Excessive stress during pregnancy can lead to detrimental effects on the baby’s neuronal health, and if you are feeling chronically stressed, speaking to your doctor is always recommended [2]. Varying symptoms of chronic stress include [3]:

• Headaches

• Insomnia

• Anxiety

• Physical aches and pains

• High blood pressure

Eliminating Bad Stress

There are several things you can do to try and eliminate or minimise bad stress. Engaging in relaxing pass-times such as meditation and even pregnant yoga could really help.

• Yoga encourages mental and physical relaxation, which helps reduce stress and anxiety. The physical postures promote flexibility, relieve tension, and alleviate pain [4]. The poses can help to release physical blockages like muscle knows, which can help release emotions and tension trapped within the body.

  
  

• Meditation can produce a deep state of relaxation where you focus your attention and eliminate the stress of messy thoughts that be crowding your mind and causing stress [5].

  
  

• Engaging in physical exercise can also help with stress as it will lower blood pressure and stress hormone levels. Aerobic exercises like walking increase breathing and heart rate so that more oxygen reaches the cells throughout the body which also reduces tension in the muscles, including the heart [6].

  
  

• It’s important to maintain a healthy diet whilst pregnant, but choosing nutritional foods will also reduce your body's cortisol (stress hormone) levels [7]. Colorful fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes, oranges, and carrots will boost your vitamin C intake naturally and are also great for reducing inflammation.

  
  

• User stress-reducing techniques you can use such as progressive muscle relaxation through which you focus on slowly tensing and then relaxing each muscle group.

Stress isn’t always bad, and can actually be positive to your overall health, well-being, and cognitive function.

However, severe, and excessive stress can be bad for both you and your baby so practicing relaxation techniques could be valuable in limiting the amount of bad stress on your body. If you believe your stress levels are severe you should speak with your doctor for advice and guidance.