Originally published January 18 2005
Sleep problems late in pregnancy may mean labor troubles later on
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Women who have difficulty sleeping in the later stages of pregnancy may have longer labors and are more likely to undergo Cesarean sections. Those who had less than six hours of sleep a night late in pregnancy were 4.5 times more likely to have C-sections than those who slept seven hours or more. So, if you’re looking forward to a special delivery soon, better get some rest now.
A study by researchers at the UCSF School of Nursing has found that women who have less sleep or severely disrupted sleep in late pregnancy are significantly more likely to have longer labors and are more likely to have cesarean births.
Controlling for birth weight of the newborn, the researchers found that women who averaged less than six hours of sleep per night had significantly longer labors and were 4.5 times more likely to have cesarean deliveries than women who averaged seven or more hours of sleep.
Women who averaged between six and seven hours of sleep per night were 3.7 times more likely to have a cesarean delivery.
"It is well known that sleep disturbance and fatigue are associated with adverse physical and psychological outcomes, but this is the first study of its kind to associate sleep disturbance in pregnant women with adverse perinatal outcomes," said lead author Kathryn Lee, RN, PhD, FAAN, professor and the James and Marjorie Livingston Chair in the UCSF School of Nursing.
According to Lee, women often complain to healthcare providers about sleep problems during pregnancy, yet little is known about how sleep affects the lives of childbearing women.
Study findings showed that women who slept less than six hours per night had an average labor of 29 hours compared to 17.7 hours for women who received seven or more hours of sleep per night.
When examining sleep quality, the researchers found that women who reported having poor sleep three to four days per week about three weeks prior to delivery were 4.2 times more likely to then have a cesarean delivery than women who reported having poor sleep two or fewer days per week.
"These findings need to be replicated in other studies, but results suggest clinical assessment of sleep quality and quantity as potential predictors of labor duration and delivery type," said Lee.
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