Stress and pregnancy don't mix well. One of the concerns arising from this mix has been the risk of autism. Acknowledging this danger should not trigger a vicious cycle of stressing about stress. That counter-productive process can and needs to be counter-acted. Nonetheless, knowledge is essential for a safe pregnancy.
Expecting mothers - and their partners - should be aware of the research giving rise to widespread conclusions that pregnancy stress presents dangers to unborn children, including risks of autism. Again, though, don't stress about stress; keep the big picture in mind.
First, right now the evidence is derived from the study of mice. Mice studies have been an important contributor to understanding human disease. However, it would be a mistake to automatically assume that any finding among mice automatically and immediately translates into human experience.
Another qualification to keep in mind is the always delicate issue of relevant proportionality. For instance, pumping mice full of some toxin in volumes utterly disproportionate to usual human practices surely does still provide valuable scientific insights. Not among those insights though would be any predictive value for assessing the relevance to the characteristically different human behavior.
This consideration demands reflection when we see that the researchers in the studies considered here describe the stress that they imposed on the research mice as being mild. This is not a precisely measurable term and begs all sorts of questions that require precision. Consequently, application of such findings to the human context is fraught with methodological ambiguity. The knowledge gap left wide open by this terminology must not be filled with baseless assumptions fueled by our anxieties.
With those caveats in mind, research is showing that an expectant mother's placenta can transmit biochemical effects of stress to her unborn child. An enzyme called OGT appears to be inhibited in the placenta of mice subjected to what researchers call mild stress.
As suggested above, it is here that we need to be cautious. This mouse stress was generated by means of exposing them to both unfamiliar noises and to the scent of foxes. It is though well known that scent reaction can be wired into the evolved neural structure through natural selection. How then is it valid to characterize exposure to existential threat of a natural predator as a mild stress?
Whatever the appropriate description of stress level in the mice, though, it seems to correlate to significantly reduced OGT levels. These reduced OGT levels triggered changes in excess of 370 of the unborn mice's brain genes.
The neurons which were altered are critically important to a number of vital brain activities in fetus development. These include regulation of energy use, protein development and nerve cell connections. This research does seem to strongly indicate that OGT helps protect development of the fetal brain.
This discovery points to an important difference between boy and girl fetuses. Males have a naturally lower level of OGT. Thus, stress in pregnancy that is sufficient to reduce OGT will likely have a greater impact on boys. This might explain the higher frequency of autism and schizophrenia documented among males.
To repeat, this is valuable knowledge that expecting mothers and their partners should understand. As with all information, though, the correct response is not increased stress! Rather it is yet further reason to be proactive in reducing pregnancy stress. See our suggestions for solutions that work .
Expecting mothers - and their partners - should be aware of the research giving rise to widespread conclusions that pregnancy stress presents dangers to unborn children, including risks of autism. Again, though, don't stress about stress; keep the big picture in mind.
First, right now the evidence is derived from the study of mice. Mice studies have been an important contributor to understanding human disease. However, it would be a mistake to automatically assume that any finding among mice automatically and immediately translates into human experience.
Another qualification to keep in mind is the always delicate issue of relevant proportionality. For instance, pumping mice full of some toxin in volumes utterly disproportionate to usual human practices surely does still provide valuable scientific insights. Not among those insights though would be any predictive value for assessing the relevance to the characteristically different human behavior.
This consideration demands reflection when we see that the researchers in the studies considered here describe the stress that they imposed on the research mice as being mild. This is not a precisely measurable term and begs all sorts of questions that require precision. Consequently, application of such findings to the human context is fraught with methodological ambiguity. The knowledge gap left wide open by this terminology must not be filled with baseless assumptions fueled by our anxieties.
With those caveats in mind, research is showing that an expectant mother's placenta can transmit biochemical effects of stress to her unborn child. An enzyme called OGT appears to be inhibited in the placenta of mice subjected to what researchers call mild stress.
As suggested above, it is here that we need to be cautious. This mouse stress was generated by means of exposing them to both unfamiliar noises and to the scent of foxes. It is though well known that scent reaction can be wired into the evolved neural structure through natural selection. How then is it valid to characterize exposure to existential threat of a natural predator as a mild stress?
Whatever the appropriate description of stress level in the mice, though, it seems to correlate to significantly reduced OGT levels. These reduced OGT levels triggered changes in excess of 370 of the unborn mice's brain genes.
The neurons which were altered are critically important to a number of vital brain activities in fetus development. These include regulation of energy use, protein development and nerve cell connections. This research does seem to strongly indicate that OGT helps protect development of the fetal brain.
This discovery points to an important difference between boy and girl fetuses. Males have a naturally lower level of OGT. Thus, stress in pregnancy that is sufficient to reduce OGT will likely have a greater impact on boys. This might explain the higher frequency of autism and schizophrenia documented among males.
To repeat, this is valuable knowledge that expecting mothers and their partners should understand. As with all information, though, the correct response is not increased stress! Rather it is yet further reason to be proactive in reducing pregnancy stress. See our suggestions for solutions that work .
About the Author:
Pregnant women and their partners who want to keep up on all the relevant news need to follow the Stress and Pregnancy site. Also, for more great information about healthy life-choice, check out the info at our sister project, the Getting Rid of a Headache Without Medicine blog.
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