1.1 Pregnancy and Childbirth
Pregnancy period is one of the wonderful phases of a woman's life. Each and every moment during this period is very precious for them. They spend each and every day in pleasant anticipation, waiting for a normal delivery. Pregnant women will face a lot of emotional issues, mainly due to hormonal changes. This will result in unusual mood swings. When a woman is pregnant for the first time, the fear will be more, as she is not aware of many things. This is the time where a woman can worry about her baby, her health and her relationship (Asha, 2016).
Childbirth is one of the most marvelous and memorable segment in a woman’s life. It does not really matter if the child is the first or second one. Each experience …show more content…
As Hippocrates wrote, “The natural healing force within each one of us is the greatest force in getting well.’’ Mind–body interventions are medical and pseudo medical interventions based on the idea of the mind influencing the physical body. The category was introduced in September 2000 by the United States National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH). The NCCIH defines mind-body interventions as the practices that "employ a variety of techniques, designed to facilitate the mind's capacity to influence bodily function and symptoms”. All mind-body interventions focus on the interaction between the brain, body, and behavior and are practiced with intention to use the mind to alter physical function and promote overall health and well-being. Common mind-body strategies are relaxation, hypnosis, visual imagery, meditation, yoga, Positive affirmation, biofeedback, tai chi, qi gong, cognitive-behavioral therapies, group support, autogenic training, and spirituality, all of which are thought to foster mind-body processes (National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine [NCCAM], 2007). Mind-body interventions constitute a major portion of the overall use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) by the …show more content…
Meditation is a mental exercise to direct the mind to think inwardly by shutting the sense organs to external stimulations. It is a vedic exercise which can be used as a powerful instrument to restrain sense organs, control autonomic nervous system (Udupa, 1983). Current research shows meditation and ‘OM’ mantra can influence mental alertness (Dhar, 1977). A study by the Vivekananda yoga research foundation in India found that a daily yoga and meditation practice during pregnancy seems to improve birth weight, reduce premature births, and lessen overall medical complications for newborns. Anxiety suppresses the body’s health functioning, especially in terms of the immune system. Meditation is a safe way to reduce anxiety and restore the normal functioning of the immune system during pregnancy and childbirth. Anxiety also reduces the pain tolerance. Meditation not only increases pain tolerance by reducing stress hormones, it also helps the body to produce endorphins, which go beyond relieving pain to enhancing pleasure. Endorphins have a powerful pain-relieving and pleasure-enhancing effect. As pain increases during labor, endorphins also increase to mediate the pain. The more a woman meditates during pregnancy the higher her endorphin level will be during delivery (John
Pregnancy period is one of the wonderful phases of a woman's life. Each and every moment during this period is very precious for them. They spend each and every day in pleasant anticipation, waiting for a normal delivery. Pregnant women will face a lot of emotional issues, mainly due to hormonal changes. This will result in unusual mood swings. When a woman is pregnant for the first time, the fear will be more, as she is not aware of many things. This is the time where a woman can worry about her baby, her health and her relationship (Asha, 2016).
Childbirth is one of the most marvelous and memorable segment in a woman’s life. It does not really matter if the child is the first or second one. Each experience …show more content…
As Hippocrates wrote, “The natural healing force within each one of us is the greatest force in getting well.’’ Mind–body interventions are medical and pseudo medical interventions based on the idea of the mind influencing the physical body. The category was introduced in September 2000 by the United States National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH). The NCCIH defines mind-body interventions as the practices that "employ a variety of techniques, designed to facilitate the mind's capacity to influence bodily function and symptoms”. All mind-body interventions focus on the interaction between the brain, body, and behavior and are practiced with intention to use the mind to alter physical function and promote overall health and well-being. Common mind-body strategies are relaxation, hypnosis, visual imagery, meditation, yoga, Positive affirmation, biofeedback, tai chi, qi gong, cognitive-behavioral therapies, group support, autogenic training, and spirituality, all of which are thought to foster mind-body processes (National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine [NCCAM], 2007). Mind-body interventions constitute a major portion of the overall use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) by the …show more content…
Meditation is a mental exercise to direct the mind to think inwardly by shutting the sense organs to external stimulations. It is a vedic exercise which can be used as a powerful instrument to restrain sense organs, control autonomic nervous system (Udupa, 1983). Current research shows meditation and ‘OM’ mantra can influence mental alertness (Dhar, 1977). A study by the Vivekananda yoga research foundation in India found that a daily yoga and meditation practice during pregnancy seems to improve birth weight, reduce premature births, and lessen overall medical complications for newborns. Anxiety suppresses the body’s health functioning, especially in terms of the immune system. Meditation is a safe way to reduce anxiety and restore the normal functioning of the immune system during pregnancy and childbirth. Anxiety also reduces the pain tolerance. Meditation not only increases pain tolerance by reducing stress hormones, it also helps the body to produce endorphins, which go beyond relieving pain to enhancing pleasure. Endorphins have a powerful pain-relieving and pleasure-enhancing effect. As pain increases during labor, endorphins also increase to mediate the pain. The more a woman meditates during pregnancy the higher her endorphin level will be during delivery (John