Why are pregnant women drawn to sleep? Why do you want to sleep during early pregnancy? Sleep for two

During pregnancy, every woman faces new emotions and sensations. The body of the expectant mother undergoes many changes, trying to get used to a new, previously unusual state. One of these changes is sleepiness during pregnancy.

If you complain to the gynecologist about weakness and drowsiness and ask why you feel sleepy during pregnancy, the doctor will most likely tell you the official version explaining why this problem occurs. Experts are sure that endocrine changes are to blame.

Great if future mom can afford to rest during pregnancy - it will be easier for her to put up with increased sleepiness and fatigue. It is more difficult for those women who have to go to work or study. The desire to stimulate the body with various stimulants, for example, in the form of caffeine, cannot be given in, as this can affect the development of the unborn baby.

Causes in the early stages

Slight nausea, weakness and drowsiness - due to pregnancy. They appear even before the moment when menstruation is supposed to begin or will show positive result. Increased drowsiness is caused by an increase in blood levels. This hormone begins to be synthesized in large quantities as a result of conception. It affects not only reproductive functions female body, but also affects it systemically, including affecting the state of the nervous system.

This leads to the fact that the woman’s nervous system begins to be in a state of rest, often reminiscent of apathy. That is, the constant desire to sleep and relax for an expectant mother who is in early pregnancy is quite normal. By the end of the third month, symptoms of fatigue and drowsiness during pregnancy gradually disappear. The woman’s mood improves and she feels a surge of strength and energy.

Reasons for later dates

The second peak of increased sleepiness appears closer to childbirth - at 36 weeks of pregnancy. This is due to the body’s active preparation for the upcoming birth.

In the last month of pregnancy, the expectant mother feels more pronounced discomfort, complains, and finds it difficult to find a comfortable one. These difficulties add to the emotional distress associated with imminent childbirth. All this affects the fact that the woman does not get enough sleep at night and complains of increased sleepiness during the day. After the baby is born, this problem will go away on its own.

Pathological drowsiness

Periodically appearing fatigue and drowsiness during pregnancy are quite natural for the body of the expectant mother. But if symptoms of fatigue, apathy and lack of strength haunt a pregnant woman constantly for a long time, it is important to find the cause of this condition.

Pathological drowsiness that occurs in the early stages of pregnancy may be due to the fact that the woman does not competently organize her work and rest schedule, allowing for lack of sleep and lack of good rest when faced with stress factors. Also, the appearance of pathological drowsiness may be due to health problems of the pregnant woman.

It can be:

• pronounced and late;
• iron deficiency;
• or blood pressure.

Also, the reasons for the development of this type of drowsiness can be banal and manifestations. In this case, consultation with your doctor is necessary.

How to work when drowsy?

Most expectant mothers work before. Many of them complain of a constant desire to sleep right at the workplace, especially if their work activity involves sedentary, monotonous work. If before conception energy drinks and strong drinks could help cope with fatigue, then during pregnancy using them to improve tone is strictly prohibited.

How to deal with persistent drowsiness?

1. It is necessary to ensure that the air temperature in the workroom is 19-21°C. If it is warmer or, conversely, a little colder, most likely, the body will become more sleepy.
2. It is necessary to ventilate the room at work more often, avoid stuffy and smoky places. Oxygen deficiency negatively affects the well-being of the expectant mother, causing a feeling of fatigue and drowsiness.
3. Short walks in the fresh air during the day or evening not only invigorate, improving your mood, but also help get rid of drowsiness without the use of tonics.
4. If you have a strong desire to sleep, it is recommended to drink a glass of chilled water in one gulp.
5. Avoid overtiring. If you have a constant feeling of fatigue and persistent drowsiness, you can ask management to get into the situation and partially ease your work activity. A similar possibility is provided for by the legislation of our country when it comes to pregnancy.

If you constantly want to sleep at work, your body is deprived of energy, and serious fatigue has accumulated, this problem should be discussed with your doctor. Perhaps the cause of drowsiness in this case is not physiological, but pathological, that is, associated with a certain disease. This condition requires the appointment of treatment that is not dangerous for the development of the baby.

If drowsiness is severe

If drowsiness in the early stages of pregnancy is quite understandable, then its prolonged course may be a sign of pathology. In cases where the problem persists long time, and a woman complains of sleep disorders, accompanied by constant awakenings, nightmares, periods of wakefulness at night - the help of a specialist is needed.

Severe weakness and drowsiness during pregnancy, accompanied by pallor skin and violation general well-being, may be signs of hypotension and anemia. If these symptoms are accompanied by fainting, we are talking about the development of a pathology such as acute gestosis.

These conditions require treatment. For example, in case of anemia, a specialist prescribes iron supplements to a woman (Ferlatum, Ferrum Lek and others) and a diet enriched with iron-containing foods.

What to do?

Drowsiness during pregnancy caused by physiological factors cannot be a sign of disease. In this way, the woman’s body simply adapts to its new position, so there is no need to treat this condition. It is enough to reconsider your usual daily routine, allocating an extra couple of hours for sleep and rest.

A woman during pregnancy should sleep at least 10 hours every day, ideally if 2 hours of them are spent on nap. It is recommended to go to bed in the evening no later than 22:00 in order to preserve natural biorhythms as much as possible and achieve more complete rest.

If before pregnancy a woman was used to starting her morning with a cup of coffee and pastries, now she needs to give up this habit. The expectant mother's breakfast should consist of yogurt, dried fruits, muesli or cereals - this will fill the body with a sufficient portion of energy and drive away fatigue.

Light, regular walks in the fresh air are very useful for the expectant mother, as they help keep the body in good shape. Sufficient physical exercise can suppress stress factors, improve mood and overall well-being.

If increased drowsiness is a sign of a certain pathological process, for example, hypotension, treatment is carried out for the underlying disease that provokes the development of the problem. These situations require monitoring by a specialist who will help you choose the optimal treatment and prevent possible pregnancy problems.

Useful video about sleep patterns during pregnancy

I like!

Pregnancy is, of course, a wonderful period that a woman experiences. But you need to be prepared for the fact that it brings some changes to the normal rhythm of life. A woman will not be able to work as before and will begin to tire quickly. In addition, drowsiness will become her frequent companion.

Why do pregnant women get it so often? The answer to this question lies in physiological characteristics the female body during the period of “waiting”. The desire for sleep is especially acute in the first three months of pregnancy, when the most dramatic changes in the body occur. This condition should not be considered pathological process, you just need to accept it and calculate your time correctly so that drowsiness does not interfere with you or those around you.

Why do pregnant women feel sleepy?

Drowsiness occurs in 8 out of 10 pregnant women. This is a completely natural process that should not be fought. It is caused by a number of provoking factors.

The desire to sleep occurs as a result of fatigue and other physiological processes.

Key causes of sleepiness during pregnancy:

• Changes in hormonal levels, significant production of progesterone;
• A woman’s energy is divided into two, so she diverges more;
• The nutrients that pregnant women take in during meals are also shared with the baby, resulting in less energy for her.

The following factors from the outside world can also provoke:

• A large amount of emotions and new information, the receipt of which makes a woman tired;
• Stress and severe mental shock;
• Constant physical and emotional stress;
• Poor poor quality nutrition;
• A pregnant woman spends little time outdoors.

Even if you exclude all these factors, drowsiness will not completely disappear. The main reason lies in the hormonal background; the processes that occur there affect the functioning of all systems, including the nervous one.

A pregnant woman wants to sleep constantly, even at the most inopportune moment. At the same time, she may suffer from insomnia at night. Rhythm disturbances are very often observed in pregnant women.

Causes of drowsiness, depending on the period of pregnancy

Most often, this problem occurs in the first trimester, but can occur throughout pregnancy. The reasons for drowsiness in the first stage (12 weeks) are as follows:

• Changes in hormonal levels. This is the main condition for normal gestation and childbirth. Hormones help prepare the uterus to receive the fetus and form the placenta. Processes in the endocrine system are reflected in the functioning of the nervous and other systems.
• Energy. During the first trimester, a fetus is formed from a fertilized egg. He must gain a foothold in the uterus and begin to actively feed through the placenta. These processes require a lot of energy, which is drawn from the mother’s body. Sleep in this case acts as a way to save energy.
• Lack of night sleep. It can occur as a result of toxicosis, overexertion, aching bones, and discomfort during sleep. The woman does not sleep well at night, so she feels drowsy during the day.

The second trimester has slightly different symptoms. Drowsiness occurs less and less often. The fetus is already formed, the hormonal background is stabilized, so much less energy is spent. Fatigue may remain as the fetus continues to grow. Sleeping in the second trimester can be caused by poor nutrition and heavy stress.

In the third trimester, problems with sleepiness return in 80% of cases. This happens due to the following reasons:

• in organism. Most of this substance goes to the formation of the baby’s musculoskeletal system. At this time, a woman’s hemoglobin level drops, and this process causes drowsiness.
• Bad night sleep. Toxicosis usually goes away before this period, but it begins frequent urination, swelling of the limbs, big belly. All this makes it difficult to choose a normal sleeping position.

It is impossible to completely overcome sleepiness during pregnancy, but you can make sure that these attacks occur as rarely as possible.

10 tips to cope with sleepiness during pregnancy

Drowsiness and are the eternal companions of pregnancy and there is no escape from them. To make life as comfortable as possible, you need to learn how to treat this condition correctly. The main thing is to understand that during these nine months a woman is responsible not so much for herself as for her child, so you need to choose a regime that suits both.

According to experts, to prevent daytime sleepiness from causing inconvenience, you must follow the following advice:

• Ensure that you get as much normal sleep during the day as possible. To do this, you need to choose the most comfortable bed; there are special sleeping pillows for pregnant women. Clothes should also be comfortable, not too tight or in the way. Before going to bed, to avoid overstimulation, it is better to choose a calm activity.
• To eat well. This is one of the main rules of normal pregnancy. Nutrition will give energy to a woman and her baby.
• To walk outside. Clean, fresh air dilates blood vessels in the brain, relieves pain, and calms the nervous system. This will make your night's sleep more restful.
• Regularly ventilate and do wet cleaning in the room in which the woman sleeps.
• Daily regime. You need to plan your schedule so that you have time for daytime rest. It is better that this always happens at the same time so that the body gets used to it.
• Avoid stress and nervous tension. This excites the nervous system, causes drowsiness, lethargy and fatigue, and also affects the baby.
• Don't get too tired. Even if the work requires stress, it is necessary to warn your superiors about your situation and perform only the permissible norm.
• When an attack of drowsiness occurs, do light exercises, this will help cheer you up. But don't stress too much.
• Drink plenty of fluids and exclude coffee from your diet. It is better to drink water with lemon, it will add energy.
• If you cannot cope with fatigue and drowsiness and this condition greatly affects the normal rhythm of life, you should consult a specialist. Perhaps he will help you find a way to get out of this state.

Pregnancy changes the rhythm of life to one degree or another. You shouldn’t try to live the way it was before; changes will definitely happen. And you need to fight them using methods so as not to harm the baby.

Pathological sleepiness is one of the first signs of pregnancy. Some women begin to experience it already in the first days after conception, even before a delay in menstruation is detected. Why do you constantly want to sleep during early pregnancy and is this condition normal?

What happens in the body

Already from the moment of fertilization of the egg, a profound restructuring begins in the body of the expectant mother. And the first to react is the endocrine system, which adjusts the hormonal background so as to make it possible for the fertilized egg to attach to the wall of the uterus and its further development.

Most often, for 5-6 weeks, a woman does not even suspect her “interesting” situation. Although already in the first days of pregnancy there may be painful sensations and swelling of the mammary glands, pulling in the lower abdomen and a somewhat inhibited state appearing, in which you want to take a nap during the day.

Most women attribute these changes to premenstrual syndrome, especially if the pregnancy was not planned and contraception was used (none of which gives a 100% guarantee that conception will not occur). And not everyone experiences complete disappearance of spotting in the early stages of pregnancy. Many women report that in the first and sometimes second month, on the days of expected menstruation, mucous discharge appears, which can confuse a woman.

Visually, a woman’s pregnancy in the first trimester is completely invisible. But a tremendous amount of work is happening inside her body. It is during this period that all the vital organs of the future baby are formed, its nervous system is formed, the skeleton is built, and the formation of the face and limbs occurs. And just at this important time, he is not yet reliably protected by the placenta and amniotic fluid, as in later stages.

The first trimester of pregnancy is considered the most important and most dangerous period. Majority congenital pathologies fetuses appear due to the fact that at this time the expectant mother led an unhealthy lifestyle, consumed cigarettes and alcohol, and took potent medications.

In the first three months, most spontaneous abortions (miscarriages) occur. Therefore, if pregnancy is desired and a woman wants to carry and give birth to a healthy baby, lifestyle adjustments should begin as early as possible.

Causes of drowsiness

Understanding what processes occur in a pregnant woman’s body after conception, it is easy to assume the main reasons why an expectant mother may constantly want to sleep:

Hormonal changes

A sharp change in the concentration of certain hormones in the blood causes symptoms characteristic of early pregnancy: dizziness, fainting, heart rhythm disturbances, and surges in blood pressure.

The body seems confused by what is happening - a well-functioning system of interaction internal organs suddenly appears unbalanced. It instinctively slows down all metabolic processes, allowing the body to adapt to changes.

Severe stress

The onset of pregnancy is always stressful for a woman. Even if she perceives this event as super positive, she still begins to worry about how the birth will go, whether the baby will be born healthy, and how the pregnancy will proceed.

What can we say about women in whose lives conceiving a child was not planned for the next few years?! Most of them have to make an extremely important and responsible decision - are they ready to give birth and raise a baby or will the pregnancy be artificially terminated.

In a state of stress, the content of adrenaline in the blood increases greatly. And he causes a rise blood pressure, tones the uterus and can cause miscarriage. Protecting the fetus, the mother's body begins to produce serotonin and tryptophan, which cause drowsiness.

Toxicosis

While the circulatory systems of the mother and fetus are not separated by the placental barrier, all waste products of the unborn baby enter the woman’s blood. This provokes toxicosis of pregnant women, which more than 60% of women experience in the early stages.

Constant nausea often ends with vomiting, a complete disgust appears for many foods, and the woman becomes very sensitive to smell. As a result, most of what a pregnant woman eats during the day may end up being expelled from the stomach, or she simply loses her appetite. But the baby is actively growing and needs nutrients, which in any case will come from the mother’s body. With severe toxicosis, drowsiness can be caused by a simple lack of energy due to insufficient nutrition.

In fact, such an inhibited sleepy state of a pregnant woman in the early stages is a protective reaction of the body, which is designed to ensure the safety and correct formation fetus

Agree, a woman who constantly wants to sleep even during the day is unlikely to go to night club and dance until the morning at the disco. She prefers to be at rest most of the time, giving the fetus the opportunity to firmly establish itself in the uterus.

How to improve the situation

Fighting such a natural phenomenon as increased sleepiness during pregnancy in the early stages is practically useless and dangerous for the unborn baby. Especially if you start artificially stimulating the nervous system with large quantities of coffee, strong tea, dark chocolate, sweets or energy drinks. Apart from increasing the signs of toxicosis and harming the child, you will achieve nothing more with such methods.

You need to act competently and wisely, purposefully creating optimal conditions for the development of the fetus from the very first days:

The rate of metabolic processes in the body depends not only on hormonal levels, but also on the amount of incoming oxygen. If it is not enough, then the woman begins to feel suffocated and drowsy. Walk more!

• Control your blood pressure. A feeling of sudden drowsiness always occurs when sharp decline blood pressure, which can cause severe dizziness and even fainting. If you experience such symptoms frequently, be sure to monitor your blood pressure with a blood pressure monitor at least twice a day.
• Think positively. A good mood and positive thoughts reduce stress levels, and therefore the concentration of adrenaline in the blood. A pregnant woman becomes calmer during the day, falls asleep faster and sleeps soundly. A full night's rest allows her to fully regain her strength and she does not feel drowsy during the day.

Moral and psychological support

High-quality literature, visits to prenatal preparation groups and conversations with your personal doctor will help you cope with anxiety about how the pregnancy will progress and how the birth will go.

Information obtained from the Internet, especially on forums where expectant mothers gather, can be of poor service, so we strongly do not recommend following the advice of non-experts at any stage of pregnancy, and even more so at the stage of fetal formation.

And remember that the state of daytime sleepiness in the early stages of pregnancy is transient and is not a pathology. Many women work during this period, so it often becomes difficult for them to fulfill their responsibilities in full. Don't be shy about telling your boss about your condition. Usually this is treated kindly and with great understanding. Even 20-30 minutes of extra rest throughout the day will make you feel more comfortable and reduce sleepiness.

Security measures

If a desired pregnancy occurs, the body must be helped and additional safety measures must be taken to reduce the risk of sudden spontaneous abortion. At least until 12-14 weeks, the expectant mother should:

Naturally, you need to create as favorable an atmosphere as possible around yourself. Early pregnancy in itself is stressful for the body and it does not need additional shocks at all. Moreover, against the background of toxicosis, they can provoke insomnia, and it is also impossible to use sedatives and sleeping pills during pregnancy.

These simple preventive actions will create the most favorable conditions for the development of the fetus, and the mother’s body will not have to take measures to protect it. Accordingly, a woman’s pathological sleepiness can be significantly reduced. In any case, usually by 4-5 months it goes away on its own, and the expectant mother enters the easiest and most favorable period of pregnancy.

Fatigue, weakness, drowsiness - this is what almost every woman encounters at some point during her pregnancy. This most often occurs during the first trimester and sometimes returns towards the end of pregnancy. You'll be surprised how much this kind of fatigue can affect your life. It is not simple normal fatigue, and you may find yourself asleep at the most unexpected moments. Have you bought tickets to the premiere of a promising play? Before leaving I had a dream. Important meeting at work? You can fall asleep even during your lunch break before it. Do you want to have amazing, pregnancy hormone-enhanced sex with your husband? They wanted to, but a minute later they found themselves in the arms of Morpheus. To help you miss fewer important events, try these tips to deal with the weakness that forces you to sleep at every possible moment.