The benefits of practicing mindfulness in pregnancy have been well-established, but they don’t just stop there. Learning how to incorporate mindfulness into your daily routine during the postpartum phase and after is also extremely beneficial, both to your overall physical health as well as mental health.
Mindfulness is a form of mediation that focuses on one’s feelings and sensations in the moment, free of judgment or interpretation. BabyGaga recently released an article that discusses the benefits of practicing mindfulness during pregnancy. Mindfulness has the power to reduce stress and anxiety, promote bonding between mom and baby as well as a healthy development, prevent premature births, decrease the need for pain relief, and even more, lower the risk of postnatal depression. Mindfulness encompasses a wide range of exercises, including breathing exercises and guided mediation, aimed at relaxing the participant.
But mindfulness shouldn’t be stopped after you deliver the baby. Rather, to continue embracing the positive benefits of this form of mediation, it’s important to continue practicing it during and beyond the postpartum phase. BabyGaga recently had the pleasure of speaking to midwife Tracy Donegan, author of The Mindful Pregnancy and founder of the GentleBirth Positive Birth App. Read on to discover Donegan’s advice for practicing mindfulness during postpartum.
It Can Prevent Postpartum Depression
Berkley University estimates that nearly 15 percent of women in the United States who’ve given birth report suffering from postpartum depression, which is a result of the combination of hormones released after childbirth in addition to the challenges transitioning to having a newborn brings. However, a recent study performed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and UC San Francisco discovered that two days of mindfulness training can greatly benefit a mother’s labor experience and reduce her risk of PPD.
The study, which looked at 30 expectant, first-time mothers in their third trimester who were considered at low risk of PPD, sent the participants and their birth partner for a weekend-long childbirth education workshop. Half of the participants participated in a mindfulness workshop during the retreat. In their conclusion, the study found that the mothers who attended the mindfulness portion had a better psychological experience with their labor compared to the other group who didn’t receive the same training. Similarly, they also reported lower symptoms of depression several weeks after giving birth.
When asked about the benefits of mindfulness on postpartum mothers and beyond, Donegan explained, “This is an aspect where the benefits are even more important. Mindfulness practice during pregnancy is associated with less prenatal and postpartum anxiety and depression. As mothers, we are particularly hard on ourselves and have high expectations.” She continued. “When we don’t meet these expectations, we doubt ourselves and our abilities as mothers. Mindful acceptance is essential during this time especially when we’re struggling with our new identity, lack of sleep, lack of control and our changed body. We forget that we are learning on the job when we are not at our best mentally or physically.”
“Mindful self-compassion is a specific practice of extending ourselves the same kindness and care we give to your vulnerable newborns – but it’s not something most women find easy to do,” Donegan explains. “If we spoke to ourselves the way we would speak to a best friend who was upset we would find postpartum a lot less stressful. The intense postpartum transition can also be a challenge for our relationships but mindfulness is shown to impact relationships in a positive way with our partners.”
It Treats Symptoms Of Poor Mental Health
Mindfulness doesn’t just work to prevent postpartum depression. It can also alleviate symptoms post-birth. A study that was conducted in 2017 and considered 67 mothers who had recently delivered found mindfulness training was effective in reducing the symptoms of postpartum depression in participants.
If you’re struggling with your mental health following a delivery, whether you’ve been diagnosed with postpartum depression or not, mindfulness can help you get into a better headspace. It’s also preventative. For instance, one study found that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy helps prevent participants in remission from experiencing symptoms of depression; there was a 50 percent reduction in the risk of relapse within the first year of receiving mindfulness tools. The study’s researchers says this success rate is higher than anti-depressant medication. Similarly, a different study found that mindfulness can reduce the need for medical visits in people with a high history of receiving mental health care.
Many mothers struggle with their mental health after giving birth, even if they’re not formally diagnosed with PPD. Mindfulness is an easy way to improve your emotional well-being and it only takes a few minutes per day. Getting into the routine of practicing it regularly will also benefit your mental health in the long-run, ensuring your remain in a positive headspace in order to put yourself and your family first.
It Can Improve Your Overall Physical Health
Mental health and physical health are equally important, but you’ll be glad to know that mindfulness has a positive impact on both. According to Help Guide, research has discovered that consistently practicing mindfulness can help alleviate stress, improve heart disease and gastrointestinal issues, lower blood pressure, reduce chronic pain, and improve sleep.
According to Harvard University, a three-year old study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association found that mindfulness meditation reduces the risk of heart disease. The calmness that mindfulness instills in the body promotes the rest of the body to also feel calm, thereby lowering stress, blood pressure, and other symptoms associated with heart disease.
“The goal is to keep your mind focused on the present and away from stressful or distracting thoughts. As your mind becomes calm, so does your body,” the publication explains.
That’s not all. Mindfulness has been proven to have a positive effect on decreasing cognitive decline from ageing or Alzheimer’s. A 2016 study that looked at people with Alzheimer’s disease, for example, found that participants who were put in the group that practice mindfulness mediation (in comparison to three other groups that tried cognitive stimulation therapy, relaxation training, or received no treatment) has much higher cognitive scores than the other groups. A similar study from 2017 also found that mindfulness meditation increases the attention span and focus of adults when practiced regularly.
According to Berkeley University, mindfulness has also been linked to improvements in immune responses. “When we encounter viruses and other disease-causing organisms, our bodies send out troops of immune cells that circulate in the blood,” the publication explains. “These cells, including pro- and anti-inflammatory proteins, neutrophils, T-cells, immunoglobulins, and natural killer cells, help us to fight disease and infection in various ways. Mindfulness, it turns out, may affect these disease-fighting cells.”
The publication adds that research has found mindfulness can reduce cell ageing. Cell ageing occurs naturally as cells divide over a person’s lifespan, but it can also be hindered by being increased through disease or stress. However, studies have found that proteins known as telomeres, which help fight the signs of ageing, are positively benefited by mindfulness. One study, for instance, showed that breast cancer survivors who practiced mindfulness were able to better preserve the length of their telomeres than those who didn’t.
Why Incorporate Mindfulness Into Your Daily Routine
There are a variety of mental and physical health benefits to be found from practicing mindfulness. Although mindfulness has specific benefits in pregnancy, it continues to be valuable even after the baby has been delivered. To make sure you’re in the healthiest state possible, we strongly urge you to consider giving mindfulness a try.
Donegan emphasizes the importance of looking after one’s self after giving birth. “We did not evolve to be alone with a newborn - we are supposed to be surrounded by a village to support the new mother but that’s not possible at the moment. Parents can mindfully change a diaper, feed mindfully (rather than scrolling on your phone) and practice self-compassion on the difficult days,” Donegan explained. “Reminding yourself that like the weather patterns outside, our inner weather patterns of emotions change hourly. When you’re having a particularly stormy day of emotions we can remember that the storm will pass and the blue sky is always there. Mindfulness gives us a little more headspace to not become overwhelmed by intensity of postpartum emotions.”
Sources: Berkeley University, Berkeley University, Research Gate, Help Guide, Harvard University, NCBI, NCBI, NCBI, Communication Cache, Healthy Debate,