Previously, the scientists have been making statements that during the period of strong stress and crises boys are less likely to be born. For instance, this tendency was observed in America immediately after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Then the number of boys born in New York City reduced considerably. The same was observed in Germany in 1991, when the former GDR stepped into the period of economic decline and political chaos. Then there was a significant decline in the number of newborn boys.

The recent study not only states the fact, but explains it as well. The reason turns out to be in the increased level of the so-called stress hormone in pregnant women, cortisol in particular. The women, who had had a higher level of cortisol before pregnancy, more often gave birth to girls. High cortisol levels must in any way impede the implantation of male embryos in the uterus. But, of course, the process of determining the sex of the expected child is controled by the chromosome set in sperm, and this fact is never going to be disputed by scientists. In addition, male embryos are more prone to miscarriages, when cortisol levels are high.

Source of the image: Photl.

Dutch researchers have analyzed the answers of 8,266 women to the questions about their working conditions. The results have shown that the working week which lasts 32 hours or more and is characterized by considerable working load in the first trimester of pregnancy has a negative effect on the birth weight. The combination of stress at work with the duration of a working week is connected with the reduced fetal weight and the increased risk of birth of children with malnutrition.

Many women try to reduce their working time and working load closer to the end of pregnancy. However, these studies demonstrate that it is much more beneficial to have partial working load during the first trimester of child-bearing.

It is also worth reminding of the dangers of night shift work. The research shows that because of sleepless nights a female body produces less melatonin, the substance that suppresses the function of sexual glands and helps prevent breast cancer. Back in 2001, the scientists from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre (USA) noted that women who work at night face the 60% higher risk of breast cancer.

Source of the image: Photl.

Specialists note that only 14% of children are not exposed to negative effects of parental depression and neuroses, which are common responses to stress from everyday life. The remaining 86% of younger generation face the heavy burden of stress of their parents.

During the study the scientists surveyed tens of thousands of children and their parents. The psychologists examined the results and concluded that 43% of adolescents, ages up to 14, suffer from anxiety due to the stressed state of their parents; 37% of children noted that at those moments they feel empty and lose sense of joy of life; 34% admitted that they get extremely depressed from observing their parents being stressed out.

The authors of the article highlight that parents need to explain to their children the nature of their stress and how to deal with it. If the children will not learn to understand mechanism of stress and methods how to overcome it, then they may face serious psychological problems and psychosomatic illnesses in the future.

Source of the image: Photl.

Getting the children into their clothes and making it through breakfast topped the list of the most arduous periods in the day of most mothers.

For moms morning means having to wake their kids up, see that they go through the routine motions and are not going to leave things at home, meanwhile trying to get down their own breakfast prior to leaving home. This is quite a handful.

8.25 AM is the time you have to set off if you don’t want to be late… And the study involving 2,000 moms shows that stress that has been on a steady rise during the morning delivers its ultimate sting.

About 40 per cent of mothers confess to feeling so irate that they can bite their children’s heads off at the slightest provocation or slide into an outburst of road rage.

Having to begin their day like this, getting the kids ready and getting them to school, makes moms feel worn out before the day actually starts, points out a representative of Uniroyal, which carried out the research.
And then driving often makes things worse – “…and when you add wet weather into the mix the situation can get dangerous. One in five mums drive the kids to school when it’s raining, when they would normally walk.”

Source of the image: sxc.hu/profile/wagg66.

Research team from the USA studied a group of women from low income households. One half were black, the other were mixed-blood. The women from that group had a few risk factors that affect pregnancy such as alcohol drinking and smoking. The researchers, however, found that a mother’s anxiety during pregnancy had an impact on childbirth and a baby’s health regardless of such influences as substance abuse, education or race.

Anxiety had a more dangerous impact during the third trimester. Women suffering attacks of anxiety during their third trimester gave birth to babies with lower weight compared to women who were mentally healthy. During the first and the second trimesters, anxiety reduced the weight of newly born babies significantly given the attacks were especially severe. Low level of anxiety in women during their first and second trimesters had only minor impact on the weight of newly born babies.

Researchers encourage all women suffering anxiety at any stage of pregnancy seek professional consultation. The study authors conclude that preventing heath problems in babies and grown-ups requires focusing on a mother’s health during pregnancy.

Anxiety is a psychological or psychic condition characterized by some cognitive, somatic, emotional and behavioral components. All these components trigger discomfort feelings such as fear, disquiet and confusion.

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Having experienced over five childhood stressors, people have a higher possibility not to live to be 75 by 1.7 times, and if we take the age of 65 as the finish line, the possibility goes up to almost 2.4 times.

Any kind of childhood stresses including suffering constant abuse and living with a mentally deranged parent or guardian puts pressure on the child’s brain, generates a chronic state of dejection. Unable to shake off the feeling, an uptight youngster is likely to resort to alcoholism or other kinds of addiction in an attempt to alleviate his condition.

Scientists from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) concluded that living through traumatic experiences in childhood may lead to developing various diseases of the heart, the lungs, the liver and general weakening of health.

The CDC leading expert Robert Anda is sure that childhood stresses lie in the base of health deterioration. He says: “If we want to address a lot of major public health issues we’ve got to address the kind of stressors children have in our society as a way of primary prevention.”

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Other studies hold that if mothers’ depressive condition is left untreated it can also endanger their babies’ health.

With the use of antidepressants by pregnant women growing during the last few years, in many cases doctors stopped the treatment out of concern about a possible harmful influence of the treatment on the unborn baby.

The latest report, the result of co-operation of the American Psychiatric Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, urges that certain women go on with taking antidepressant medicine even after becoming pregnant.

That goes for women with suicidal tendencies, those prone to recurrent psychotic episodes or having bipolar disorders. Severe bouts of depression shouldn’t be allowed to go untreated as well.

In cases where expectant mothers show but mild symptoms or no symptoms, the study suggests a course of a gradual going off medication.

Source of the image: flickr.com/photos/dust/.

The results of a study among 62 children aged 4-5 years old, presented at the annual Associated Professional Sleep Societies meeting in Seattle, pointed that a day regimen with the room for an afternoon nap is a good thing for a child’s psyche.

On the other hand, not sleeping in the afternoon is associated with the psyche disturbances in children like hyperactivity, increased anxiety and depressed feelings. Those were exactly the disturbances found in 23% of kids who didn’t sleep in the afternoon.

It is the fact that children, as they reach the age of 4-6 years old, are reluctant to sleep in the afternoon, preferring staying active for resting. So Brian Crosby, the author of the study, encourages the parents to be more insistent as they urge their kids to sleep in the afternoon.

Source of the image: flickr.com/photos/drh.

Especially it relates to polluted areas where asthma constitutes a greater threat for children of tense parents than for other children living in the same neighborhood.

An article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences explains that stressful condition makes the person’s airways more vulnerable to the inflammatory effects of polluting agents in traffic exhaust and cigarette smoke.

Therefore, the researchers point out, children living in a polluted environment in combination with a stress-riddled home run a much higher risk of developing asthma.

These youngsters also tend to feel more stressed than their peers.

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