Researchers have linked stress experienced by pregnant women to higher incidences of mental and behavioural problems in their children. The research, presented recently at a Royal college of psychiatrists conference in London, suggests high levels of the stress hormone, cortisol, in amniotic fluid in the womb could affect the development of the brains of foetuses, affecting their future social skills, language ability and memory.
Vivette Glover, of Imperial College London, said there was now reason to believe that 15 per cent of the one million diagnoses of ADHD, cognitive delay and anxiety in children could be due to the stress experienced by their mothers during pregnancy.
The researchers followed 125 women who were having amnocentesis- samples of amniotic fluid taken from the womb - for other medical reasons and used samples from the test to measure their cortisol levels. They conducted stress analysis of the women before and after birth, and then tested their babies at 18 months.
They found that those who experienced stressful events during pregnancy had lower mental development scores independently of what had happened to them after they were born. Serious conflicts with partners, including domestic violence, were the biggest causes of stress. More info
?These babies performing worse on development scores were exposed to high level of cortisol in the womb,? said kristin Bergman , the lead Imperial researcher on the paper.
Previous research has linked mothers? stress levels to their future child's mental health and cognitive ability but this is the first to make the cortisol link and there have also been conflicting findings. Last year , American scientists reported that moderate levels of stress were linked to more advanced mental ability in children by the age of two .
Criticisms surround the area of research because it is hard to blame the exposure in the womb to stress while ruling out that the babies? social environment after birth has an effect. The researchers behind this study say they have identified cortisol as a cause, ruling out the possibility that environmental factors after the baby was born had an effect. More about
One of the major problems with stress is that it attacks the mind first, making sure that its ability to response to it is limited at best. Stress causes weakening of memory sometimes to a point when you start forgetting things, makes it extremely difficult to focus on anything and makes you question your motives and your will to stand up from bed every morning.
Stress is also known to affect our feelings, too. Becoming sad, angry or anxious for little or no reasons is only the beginning. Panic attacks, crying or outbursts of fury will become your daily bread, but there is no way anyone could get used to it and will greatly affect your everyday life.
What is worse, mental stress will sooner or later cause also physiological problems, just as any kind of stress does. What starts from aching muscles often ends in severe illnesses unless you start coping with your problems instead of avoiding them.
Oftentimes physical effects of mental stress will help form an vicious circle, because they start to cause more mental problems. If you feel extremely tired, you may refuse to get out of the bed in the morning. This will cause you feel lazy and certainly increase your stress at work (when you finally get there) and impede your family function. This will make you feel down and stressed about your own behavior which in turn result in more physical problems. If you feel like this, you have to find some external help - quickly.
The last phase of stress problems takes all your existing problems to the extreme. High blood pressure may cause a heart attack. Digestive problems may result in obesity, tightened muscles and lowered immune system efficiency end in muscle and bone problems and generally lowered performance of your body invites diabetes and other chronic disease. Your mental stress may change from feeling down to a deep depression. Either way, your very life will be at risk. Whether you'll be struck down by heart problems or attempt to commit suicide because of depression, you'll die.
Stress can be coped with even during its last stages. However, one cannot do it alone. The reason for stress being so dangerous is that it limits people's abilities to cope with it. What is more, it increases with every your failure. If you try to get rid of stress without external assistance, your attempt is doomed from the very start. You have to find someone to help you - what is a titanic task for a single person is often only moderately difficult for two.
Andrew John has sinced written about articles on various topics from Learn Hypnosis, Blood Pressure and Work From Home. The Article Author: Andrew John writes about stress and how to deal with it naturally, Andrew can show you how to cope with stress via all-natural methods. For more information and detailed studies on how to fight stress without drugs, go to:. Andrew John's top article generates over 22200 views. to your Favourites.