Growing a baby may be exhausting, but sleep can be elusive for pregnant women. Factors such as changing hormones, physical discomfort, and anxiety about what is to come can keep women up during the night, with up to 80% of women experiencing insomnia during pregnancy.
However, sleep remains critical, especially during pregnancy. In order to reach your sleep goals, it is helpful to know how your sleep is affected during pregnancy so that you are best prepared for how to address these challenges and get more sleep.
Understanding Sleep Changes During Pregnancy
As if growing a life isn’t enough, pregnancy can affect your body in ways that can contribute to insomnia.
From your very first trimester, your body starts to experience fluctuations in hormone levels as it shifts its focus to growing a fetus. However, these fluctuating hormone levels can cause discomfort and other problems that can make it difficult to fall asleep, such as:
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Increased heart rate
- Breast tenderness
- Higher body temperature
- Leg cramps
- Frequent nighttime urination
Some of these consequences of pregnancy can make you uncomfortable enough that falling asleep is a struggle. Sometimes, the discomfort may be so much that it wakes you during the night, segmenting your sleep. Other consequences, such as a higher heart rate and body temperature, create an internal environment that contradicts what the body seeks when falling asleep, contributing to insomnia.
As your pregnancy progresses and the size of your baby bump grows, it’s common to struggle to find a comfortable position. If your baby is active at night, kicking even when you’re trying to fall asleep, it may also keep you up.
Anxiety, as well, can affect those who are pregnant, whether it’s anxiety about the labor and delivery process or being a new mother.
Combined, these changes, both mental and physical, that occur during pregnancy can impact sleep, which may then contribute to pregnant women having a hard time sleeping and waking more often during the night.
Sleep Disorders and Health Problems During Pregnancy
While pregnant women experience bodily changes that can make sleep harder to come by, poor sleep may also result from pregnancy-related sleep disorders and health problems.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Obstructive sleep apnea is one such sleep disorder that can arise during pregnancy as a result of the associated weight gain and nasal congestion. These two factors can cause women to start snoring while they are pregnant, which can be a risk factor for high blood pressure. In some cases, the obstruction can progress until women develop obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a sleep disorder in which someone experiences periods of stopped breathing during the night, which significantly disrupts sleep quality.
With OSA, a woman may feel as though they are sleeping through the night but wake up exhausted and remain tired all day because they (unknowingly) are experiencing very poor sleep quality due to the constant nighttime wakings that result from periods of stopped breathing.
While OSA is concerning in all individuals, it can be especially hazardous during pregnancy. With women not getting as much oxygen during their sleep, OSA can impede how much oxygen flows to the fetus. It can also increase the risk of various pregnancy-related concerns, including gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, and cesarean sections.
Restless Legs Syndrome
Those who have restless legs syndrome (RLS) experience a tickling, crawling, or itching sensation that leads to an irrepressible need to move their legs. As a result of this constant need to move the legs, those with RLS can have a hard time falling asleep, especially since the symptoms are more pronounced when the body is at rest, such as when trying to fall asleep.
It’s estimated that over one-third of pregnant women in their third trimester are affected by RLS. This sleep disorder can then compound with the other facets of pregnancy that make sleep difficult to get.
Gastroesophageal Reflux Disorder
While not a sleep disorder, gastroesophageal reflux disorder (GERD) can still affect sleep. This condition, which may also be referred to as acid reflux or heartburn, causes an uncomfortable burning sensation in the esophagus. This sensation is even more pronounced when lying down, which is how it can affect sleep.
GERD is a common cause of insomnia in pregnant women no matter what trimester they are in, but the incidence increases as pregnancy progresses—it’s estimated to affect one-quarter of pregnant women in their first trimester and up to half of those in their third.
The Importance of Sleep During Pregnancy (And Tips to Meet Your Needs)
Despite the effects that pregnancy changes can have on your sleep, it is no less important to meet your body’s sleep needs, not just for your health but for the health of your baby.
Sleep is vital for your immune system, with chronic sleep deprivation shown to take its toll on your body. This may be one factor that contributes to sleep’s impact on maternal and fetal health outcomes.
Sleep also plays a role in regulating blood sugar. Knowing this explains the evidence linking poor sleep during pregnancy to gestational diabetes mellitus.
Research also shows that pregnant women who get too little or too much sleep are at an increased risk of developing high blood pressure in their third trimester. Severe sleep deprivation and sleep-disordered breathing may also increase the risk of preeclampsia, which can lead to preterm delivery and lasting complications for the mother’s health.
All of these factors show the importance of getting enough sleep during pregnancy, even when pregnancy itself produces symptoms that contradict sleep. The greatest tip for pregnant women to preserve their sleep is to focus on sleep hygiene, such as engaging in relaxing activities before bed and keeping the bedroom dark, cool, and quiet.
If you suspect that you have developed a sleep disorder during your pregnancy, it’s recommended to reach out to your doctor to discuss treatment options, such as using a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device for OSA or taking supplements for RLS. It’s always recommended to talk to a doctor before taking any supplements to ensure they are safe during your pregnancy.
Ultimately, it’s important for pregnant women to prioritize their sleep and seek help if they struggle to sleep—your body has a lot of work to do and needs all the energy it can get.
