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:
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.
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.
Pregnant women in their 1st and 2nd trimester sleep more than their non-pregnant and third-trimester selves.
Average sleep peaks at week 10 and declines slowly in the weeks after.
As women zero-in on deliver day, they’re getting about 30 minutes less-than-typical sleep at night.
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!