Anxiety & Labour Explained

Anxiety is helpful for us in many ways however when it comes to labour, its not helpful. When we feel anxious, our body goes into what’s known as our fight or flight response. When this happens a range of physical symptoms occur in the body including tension.

When the body tenses up, all the muscles tense up and this involves the muscles in the uterus. When the muscles in the uterus are tense, this can actually make labour much more intense than it needs to be and it can also slow the labour process down.

If we hold strong beliefs around birth, that it will be a scary negative painful event, its very likely that when labour happens, the body’s natural fight or flight response will kick in. Its not enough to tell ourselves to stop being anxious and so its important to do the work before labour starts to ensure that when it does happen there is calm confidence.

Have a watch of the video below to hear Lucy (Mental Health Nurse & Hypnobirthing Instructor) explain more about the impact of anxiety on labour.

There are so many people who feel so anxious and fearful when it comes to labour. The problem with this is that anxiety and labour don't make the best of friends. When the body feel anxious to give birth, it can actually make the process much more difficult that it needs to be and potentially even slow labour down.