Ask for what you need
Here’s a great tip for staying emotionally healthy-learn to state exactly what it is that you need. Asking for help may sound obvious, but when you’re exhausted and overwhelmed it can be tough getting to the point. If you were raised to not to ask things of others, it can be doubly hard.
This is where practice helps and no better time to practise than during pregnancy to prepare you for the demands of being a new mother.
Bottom line:
Even if you have a history of anxiety and depression, there’s a lot you can do to keep healthy and avoid triggers that will increase your level of stress. Starting these now can pay big dividends after the baby is born.
Read about how you can prevent post-partum depression with date night.
References:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24449191/
https://www.cochrane.org/CD007559/PREG_mind-body-interventions-during-pregnancy-for-preventing-or-treating-womens-anxiety
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/four_reasons_to_practice_mindfulness_during_pregnancy
Originally published here.
Dr. Dawn Kingston, Canada’s leading expert on perinatal mental health and for over ten years, has been at the forefront of research on how to prevent postpartum depression. Her team has developed the HOPE App which is designed to significantly reduce prenatal anxiety and depression and directly support expectant mothers. They are studying it in a massive implementation study, one of the most ambitious projects of this type ever!
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