Pregnancy Hormones and the Need to Sleep and Eat

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Pregnancy Hormones and the Need to Sleep and Eat

Article by Katherine Nagy

Pregnancy hormones love manipulating a pregnant mum’s brain, sleep, body and life. The guilty steroidal culprits for mum’s moody behavior are estrogen and progesterone – otherwise known as the woman’s “reproductive steroids.” These steroids, (pregnancy hormones), are responsible for conception, and follow baby’s development from beginning to end. Both mum’s behavior and health, and baby’s behavior and health, will succumb to the affects of these hormones over the following nine months.

The hormone of all hormones during pregnancy is referred to as HCG. (Otherwise known as human chorionic gonadotropin.) The increase in this pregnancy hormone is a great example of the hormonal changes that occur within a woman’s body during pregnancy. During the first week of pregnancy, HCG levels might only be 0-5 mIU/ml. By the ninth month, HCG levels can be over 117,000 mIU/ml. Many medical researchers speculate that the behavior of this pregnancy hormone is responsible for mum’s morning sickness. The pregnancy hormone behavior of progesterone has also been implicated in facilitating mum’s morning sickness, since this hormone affects the digestive tract and stomach acids. Logically, mum’s morning sickness could also be due to the fact that she had a gallon of pickle flavored ice cream the night before.

There are many other pregnancy hormones that change the behavior of the pregnant mum’s body and moods. Estrogen is not just one steroid, it has three womanly categories. Non-pregnant women start out with “estradiol.” “Estrioal” is the reigning estrogen hormone in pregnant women. Another estrogen hormone, estrone, is reserved for menopausal women. (So “hormonal mum” can start her hormonal moods all over again.) The pregnancy hormone and estrogen estrioal is produced by the placenta, and just like HCG, starts off at low levels in the first trimester of pregnancy – but then heightens to a resounding culmination of hormones by the end of the third trimester.

Estrogen levels are very important for a healthy baby, but they may play with mum’s emotions. The central nervous system has estrogen receptors that are concentrated in the same area that controls our emotions. Estrogen treatment is used for post-partum blues and menopausal women going through depression because of their reduced estrogen levels.

Estrogen treatment is also known to be effective in helping menopausal women to get a good night’s rest. The behavior of estrogen hormones when used as a treatment for sleep would indicate that higher levels of estrogen may affect a pregnant mum’s sleep cycles. Recent 2009 studies published in the journal Sleep also indicate that increased estrogen levels in pregnant women may be responsible for the prevalence of the sleeping disorder Restless Leg Syndrome in pregnant women, particularly during their third trimester when estrogen levels are at their peak and Restless Leg Syndrome is more likely to occur.

Of course, mum’s need for sleep is only partially due to hormones. A pregnant mum’s body has to work double time when she’s carrying around extra weight and feeling nauseous and dizzy while the baby is sapping out all of mum’s nutrients. The best thing you can do for a moody hormonal pregnant mum is let her sleep and rest her body so she has the strength to get through the baby’s first nine months.

Pregnancy hormone behavior affects the behavior of a pregnant mum. Baby’s body and mum’s body are connected. Mum will feel baby’s changing hormones, and baby will feel mum’s changing hormones. The escalation of hormones during pregnancy is necessary to protect baby and mum – but these same hormones will also often result in a hormonal, tired and emotional mum. Pregnancy hormone behavior needs to be understood so mum’s behavior can be understood. If the changing behavior of hormones is too much to understand, then just let mum be her hormonal self and let her sleep whenever she can. She’ll explain it all to you in just about nine months.

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