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    Why Sleep Is So Important During Pregnancy - Psychology Today Canada

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    Why Sleep Is So Important During Pregnancy - Psychology Today Canada

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    Why Sleep Is So Important During Pregnancy | Psychology Today Canada

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    Why Sleep Is So Important During Pregnancy - Psychology Today Canada

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    CA

    Find a Therapist (City or Postal Code) Verified by Psychology Today

    Isabel Morales-Munoz, Ph.D.


    Understanding and Improving Mental Health

    PREGNANCY

    Why Sleep Is So
    Important During
    Pregnancy
    Sleep problems in pregnancy can lead to poor
    outcomes in the born child
    Posted June 8, 2024
    Reviewed by Gary Drevitch

    KEY POINTS

    Sleep is essential to our lives.


    Pregnancy and childhood are crucial stages for sleep
    problems.
    Sleep problems during pregnancy may lead to the
    development of a range of problems in the born child.
    Sleep can be modified.

    We all would agree that sleep is essential to our lives, and


    that without a proper night of sleep, we would not be able to
    function well the following day. However, and for some rea‐
    son that I still do not understand, there are specific stages of
    the life in which we all assume that having poor sleep is “nor‐
    mal” and something that we should just deal with, as this is
    “what it is." Examples of these stages are childhood and
    pregnancy – and in this post I am going to mainly focus on
    the pregnancy period.

    ARTICLE CONTINUES AFTER ADVERTISEMENT

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    I remember that when I was pregnant with my daughter, one


    the first things that I heard from a lovely close friend (after
    “congratulations," of course) was to forget about having prop‐
    er sleep at night—and to be honest, this was not only her
    message based on her own experience; it was a message I
    heard repeatedly throughout my pregnancy from different
    people. As a sleep researcher who studies the impact that
    sleep problems have on the development of mental health
    problems, I must admit that this was quite a “scary” message.
    Based on my own research, this meant that by default I would
    be at risk for mental health problems...

    Therefore, one of the main goals I aimed to achieve through


    my research is to raise awareness of how important sleep is,
    but most importantly, that sleep is something we can modify
    and that, by adopting good sleep hygiene practices, we can
    improve our overall health, well-being and quality of life.

    There is existing evidence suggesting that sleep problems


    during pregnancy may lead to the development of a range of
    problems in the newborn and subsequently in the develop‐
    ment of the child. For example, in a couple of studies that I
    conducted in Finland, we found that insomnia symptoms in
    mothers during pregnancy were associated with the occur‐
    rence of sleep problems in the infant at the age of 3 months;
    and also that children of mothers who have an evening
    chronotype (i.e., "night owls") are at highest risk of develop‐
    ing sleep problems during the first two years of life. In these
    two studies, we only focused on sleep problems as the devel‐
    opmental aspect to explore in the born children. However, we
    also expect that sleep problems during pregnancy would
    have an impact on a wider range of developmental aspects
    of the born child, such as emotional problems, a more difficult
    temperament, or delayed motor or cognitive development.
    This is something that we still need to explore more and
    something that we are aiming to investigate in the next few
    years; hopefully I will be able to provide further updates in
    this space.

    The reasons why sleep problems during pregnancy lead to


    developmental problems in the child are still not clear, but
    some potential biological mechanisms have been proposed
    to support the relationship. For instance, disturbed sleep dur‐
    ing pregnancy could interfere with the rhythm and amplitude
    of melatonin secretion, which subsequently is involved in the
    formation of normal foetal sleep patterns and circadian
    rhythms. However, we still need further studies (especially
    longitudinal studies in which mothers and their children are
    followed up over a prolonged period of time) to understand in
    more detail the mechanisms explaining the associations be‐
    tween sleep problems during pregnancy and a child’s poor
    development.

    It is also important to highlight that a relevant aspect of why


    sleep problems during pregnancy are of crucial importance is
    that these are actually modifiable factors, which means that
    we can improve our sleep and, consequently, prevent a
    range of adverse effects associated with prenatal sleep prob‐
    lems (such as sleep problems in their children, or mental
    health problems in the mothers postnatally). For instance,
    there are a number of sleep interventions (e.g., sleep hygiene
    practices, behavioural interventions) that have been proven
    to improve sleep; these interventions could be effective in
    preventing the development of a range of adverse outcomes
    in the mother (e.g., postnatal mental health problems) and in
    the child (e.g., sleep problems in infancy). Following this, and
    considering the negative outcomes associated with sleep
    problems during pregnancy indicated above, one of our main
    focuses in the next years is to implement sleep interventions
    during pregnancy not only to improve sleep in pregnant
    women but also to prevent and/or reduce mental health
    problems and other adverse outcomes in the mothers and
    their children.

    ARTICLE CONTINUES AFTER ADVERTISEMENT

    But not only would experiencing sleep problems during preg‐


    nancy have an impact on the development of the born child,
    but the sleep problems that the child might experience could
    have a long-term effect in the development of a wide range
    of poor outcomes, like mental health problems. This is a topic
    for another post (or several).

    THE BASICS

    What Is Pregnancy?

    Find counselling near me

    References

    Morales-Muñoz I, Saarenpää-Heikkilä O, Kylliäinen A, Pölkki P, Pork‐


    ka-Heiskanen T, Paunio T, Paavonen EJ. The effects of maternal risk
    factors during pregnancy on the onset of sleep difficulties in infants
    at 3 months old. J Sleep Res. 2018;27(5):e12696.

    Morales-Muñoz I, Partonen T, Saarenpää-Heikkilä O, Kylliäinen A,


    Pölkki P, Porkka-Heiskanen T, Paunio T, Paavonen EJ. The role of
    parental circadian preference in the onset of sleep difficulties in
    early childhood. Sleep Med. 2019;54:223-230.

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    About the Author

    Isabel Morales-Munoz, Ph.D., is Assistant


    Professor in Psychology, based at the Institute
    for Mental Health, School of Psychology, at
    the University of Birmingham.

    Online: Faculty Page, Twitter

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