Lowering Stress and Blood Pressure Can Help Newborns
Pregnant women who have high stress levels and high blood pressure may have a greater risk of giving birth to an underweight baby, according to a new study in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.
A study of 170 white and African-American women found that the high stress and high blood pressure combination was twice as common among African-American participants than white participants.
The stresses reported in the women’s lives ranged from paying their bills and neighborhood crime to pregnancy-related anxiety. Women reporting higher levels of stress, who also had high blood pressure, had an increased risk of having an underweight baby.
Your doctor can suggest a wide variety of lifestyle changes—from yoga and meditation to exercises and diet changes—to help lower your stress and blood pressure.
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