When pregnant, your body is working overtime to support both you and the baby. You need as much rest as you can get in order to enjoy a better quality of life during pregnancy. About 78 percent of women experience some type of insomnia during pregnancy. A majority of this percentage of expectant women are unable to sleep because of anxiety.
Having anxiety insomnia doesn’t put the life of the baby at risk. But if you don’t take measures to manage it, you may end up enduring weeks of immense discomfort and fatigue. So, how can you manage anxiety insomnia during pregnancy? Here are a few tips you can leverage:
1. Change Your Sleeping Position
Now that you have a bulging belly, you cannot sleep the same way you did when you weren’t pregnant. It is advisable to sleep on your left side as much as you can because it allows for better air and blood circulation. It also helps to use a pregnancy pillow to enhance comfort.
2. Set up your bedroom
Anxiety is a mental condition that can wreak havoc in your life if not promptly addressed. To curb anxiety insomnia, try and make your bedroom as serene and comfortable as possible. Turn your thermostat temperature up or down to what you like. Or you could play the white noise machine to get your mind to calm down and fall asleep.
3. Take a warm bath.
Right before bed, how about if you prepare yourself a warm bath and soak in there for some minutes? While at it, you could ask your partner to massage your feet or your neck just to get you in the right mood for goodnights’ sleep.
4. Nap during the day.
Most women can’t fight the urge to sleep during the day. If this is you, go ahead and take that nap. Be careful not to nap for too long because if you do, you may be unable to sleep well at night.
5. Do regular exercise.
Without proper sleep, you end up feeling too tired and might want nothing to do with exercise. But exercise has the power to jump-start your slowing system and get your blood rushing again. It helps to have some music on while exercising to give you rhythm and to help you enjoy your time working out.
If you have trouble sleeping, staying asleep or you wake up too early in the morning, above are some thoughtful tips to get you to manage anxiety insomnia during pregnancy. If you find that you still struggle, you should talk to your doctor and explore other solutions to get you to sleep better.
