How Much Rest During Pregnancy Is Enough?

Prenatal

oi-Anwesha

By Anwesha Barari

Wednesday, December 7, 2011, 14:23

How should you actually rest during pregnancy? It depends on the stage of pregnancy you are in, your lifestyle and several other things. What you can do successfully is to make a mental note of how many points to give each aspect and then make a calculation that is best suited for your prenatal health. It should be a comprehensive system to decide the hours of rest especially with the festive season coming in. Being pregnant during Christmas means lack of rest from celebrations so you need to be careful.

Here are some useful points to help you decide how much you need to rest during pregnancy.

How Much To Rest During Pregnancy?

1. Pregnancy Stage: If you are in early stages of pregnancy you need be careful about what you eat and how safely you travel. In the later stages you have to be more concerned about how much rest you are taking. As you body gets heavier you will feel fatigued and your feet will start swelling so obviously the number of hours of rest increases in the last trimester.

2. Relax More Rest Little: You can rest for hours and still wake up tired. It means you are not relaxing. Just lying down on the bed will not help you relax. You need to unwind, do things you like, hear soothing music and watch funny movies. Pray if you like.

3. Your Lifestyle: If you have an unhealthy lifestyle then no amount of rest during pregnancy will help. If your work timings make it difficult for you to rest (call centre employees or doctors) then if will affect your baby and you. You have to find other ways to catch some rest. You could sleep in the car for example.

4. How Much You Travel: If your work involves lot of traveling then you might have to take a break. Even traveling by air is stressful these days, especially overseas. Other factors like jet lag and climatic changes don't let you get the rest that you need. If you are traveling to meet family for Christmas then don't do so without your doctor's advice.

5. Special Conditions: Your general prenatal health is very important in deciding how much rest during pregnancy will suffice. If you have any special conditions like high blood pressure or low lying placenta, then you may be advised bed rest. You have to go through all the rest advised to you keeping your critical condition in mind. Don't try to do anything brave because it will only be silly.

6. Don't Become Lazy: Having said all this, it is also true that you should not become lazy in the name of rest. If you do not have any special health conditions then there is no reason not to take your walks or do daily household chores that don't involve heavy work. Your chances of normal birth increase that way.

Use these pregnancy tips to relax and rest properly.