Yoga for pregnancy stress

Pregnancy is an exciting time of anticipation and transformation but it can bring its own anxieties and stresses. There is the physical demand on a woman’s body of growing and nurturing a new life and there are the psychological worries that also impinge. It is natural to be a touch stressed as to whether you will be able to cope, be it a first child or an additional; there is the stress of getting your home and life prepared for the new addition; and there is the stress as you race to give birth before your cousin Gina, who is due around the same time, so you can claim first naming rights as she also wants to call her child “Twinkle”. There are lots of ways to deal with the stresses of pregnancy, hopefully avoiding medication at every turn which is why yoga is becoming increasingly popular. Yet while many women are encouraged to do yoga during pregnancy and while many turn to it as a natural physical and emotional support, is it doing what we all assume it is doing for the pregnant mother? This was the question that researchers set out to answer in a new study that had some clear cut results.

The study was performed by researchers at the University of Manchester in the UK and involved pregnant women who completed questionnaires that examined their general anxiety levels, any depression present, and their pregnancy-specific anxiety levels as well. Blood tests were also taken to measure stress hormone levels.

The women were then assigned to one of two groups. One group took part in one yoga session per week for eight weeks. The other groups continued as usual without doing yoga. After the first and last yoga session the yoga group completed questionnaires and blood tests again. The non-yoga group only completed their questionnaires and had blood tests one more time after the eight weeks.

The results revealed that after just one yoga class the pregnant mother showed a 33 per cent reduction in anxiety levels on their questionnaires and they had a 14 per cent reduction in stress hormone levels. This effect did not increase over the eight weeks of the study but it did stay the same.

It appears then that just one yoga class will achieve lasting reductions in stress levels for pregnant women. Stress during pregnancy matters because it is associated with increased risk of premature birth, low birth weight, and developmental and behavioural problems. If you are pregnant then it seems that those recommendations to do some appropriate yoga are spot on, so get down(ward dog), and go yoga.