Sleep more if you want to avoid a long labor and having a C-Section. That is the little factoid I got from fertility tracking app Glow’s recent report on sleep during pregnacy.
Precisely, Glow cited a 2004 NIH study which found among the survey participants, first-time moms who got less than 6 or fewer hours of sleep at night. Compared to moms-to-be who got 7 hours of sleep per night or more, those in the 6 and under group were almost 5x more likely to have a C-section, and their average length of labor was 10 hours or longer. Whoa!
Here are some other tidbits about sleep during pregnancy that moms-to-be may want to know:
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As much as we’d like to control how much sleep we get, sleep during pregnancy is partially influenced by circumstances beyond our control—age, race, and general demographics.
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For instance, women under age 25 sleep the most per night, 15 minutes per night more than women aged 25-35, and 30 more minutes than women 35 and older. This pattern is consistent throughout the entirety of pregnancy.
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Pregnant women in their 1st and 2nd trimester sleep more than their non-pregnant and third-trimester selves.
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Average sleep peaks at week 10 and declines slowly in the weeks after.
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As women zero-in on deliver day, they’re getting about 30 minutes less-than-typical sleep at night.
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26% of women start snoring during pregnancy, and 35% of women report snoring three or more times a week when pregnant!
Get more details and insights about Glow’s report here!