Hi everyone and welcome my name is ilao and I'm a registered Midwife and childbirth education instructor I really enjoy educating families throughout the perinatal period throughout their births and in the postpartum and I have two lovely children at home in today's video we're going to talk about perinatal anxiety so let's Jump Right In and get started so what is perinatal anxiety perinatal anxiety can be differentiated into mild moderate or severe and it's anxiety that crops up during the pregnancy or any time in that first year after baby's born we have some evidence to suggest that early intervention can actually help with anxiety and I expect most of you will experience this at some point not just the birthing person but also our partners as well this is quite a big transition and you're doing things you've never done before you may have never been pregnant before and now you're thinking not just of yourself but of the baby developing and growing inside of you and these anxiety symptoms can manifest in a few different ways so one of those can be physical symptoms that increased muscle tension clenching the jaw those shoulders creeping up by our ears again that's going to come up differently for different folks but in general our muscles are a little more tense when we're anxious you may also experience changes in your concentration and many of us have heard about pregnancy brain or mummy brain because we have a harder time remembering things when there's a lot of new things coming up for us so when you are adding anxiety as an extra layer on top of that it really does take up a lot of extra space in your brain and it can be hard to concentrate and that short-term memory can be disrupted and affected finally some issues can come up with your sleep so not just after the baby's born where your sleep deprived your fatigue fued you're waking up all the time but even when you have the opportunity to have a good night's rest you have a hard time quieting your mind so there can be racing thoughts intrusive images and you might find that you're not only having difficulty falling asleep but also staying asleep and these can affect you as well in your day-to-day Life as we move into moderate anxiety symptoms here are a few Flags to watch out for for both you and your partner so if you start to see these things crop up it's definitely a cue to pay closer attention moderate anxiety is when you start to feel anxiety most of the day and your thoughts are taken up by worry most of the day so most being the important word there in terms of the symptoms you may experience it could be more significant muscular tension clenching that jaw having tightness in your muscles having really bad headaches you could also experience changes in your appetite so either feeling much much more hungry and eat wanting to eat all the time or the opposite having very very little appetite you might also experience panic attacks so these are physiologic responses to anxiety or worry and you will feel them as an increase in your heart rate your pulse you might even feel your heart wanting to pound out of your chest getting a little bit sweaty dry mouth all of those things that come with it you may also find that you have reduced coping mechanisms so things that you would have been able to cope with just fine before become much more challenging in addition to all of the tension and that physiologic change that comes with stimulating the nervous system you may find that you're excessively fatigued so triggering that heart rate increase burning more calories all of those sorts of things in addition to sleep disruption can really add up to a sense of depletion and extreme fatigue the tricky part is that in the postpartum we are sleep deprived that happens and our appetites change as we are breast and chest feeding so it can be hard to tease that out and to differentiate normal postpartum symptoms from the onset of anxiety finally you may find that you're actually really starting to avoid things that you found pleasure and joy in in the past and worry around being the perfect host or having people over to your home um can take up a lot of that energy and make you feel like you're unable to cope when it comes to severe anxiety symptoms these are now taking over your entire day you might experience moderate anxiety symptoms but at the next level so more intense more extreme and that worry that fear is now taking over over most of the day without clear explanation those headaches that muscle tension appetite disruptions extreme fatigue are all keyed up you may feel incapable of making decisions and guilty about things that are not your fault and extremely extremely irritable so that nervous system is now on maximum alert when our nervous system is keyed up we are in fight flight or freeze so that extreme irritability or paralysis comes into play and in this stage we're not just actively avoiding things we are scared we are worried we are fearful we're frightened these are key symptoms of extreme anxiety or severe anxiety if you notice them this is the time to link with your healthcare provider these are not normal symptoms we expect to see in the postpartum let's take a moment to talk about strategies for managing perinatal anxiety and remember try these strategies in addition to linking in with your healthc care provider the first thing you could try is increasing your social support So this means different things for different people it could be reaching out to a friend it could be an online support group it could be coffee with a neighbor who's gone through the same thing or checking in with other mum groups it could be virtual it could be in person whatever fits best for you you could also consider trying Yoga Yoga is a great option because it involves body movement so physical activity and light stretching in addition to breath work so breathing and bringing in that really important oxy oxygen to our muscles to our tissues to help them work better and moving our bodies a little bit to release those natural endorphins that help us to feel better in addition you could potentially try some light therapy light therapy involves sitting in front of a specialized light source for 30 minutes some may need more time every morning and can be effective for some of us in Canada in the late fall and winter time especially there are a lot of folks who suffer from seasonal affective disorder and just having that light therapy especially in those dark winter months can help reset those Feelgood hormones you could practice mindfulness or meditation meditation that word can be a little bit intimidating and feel like really hard work but nowaday days there are so many different apps available that make entry into meditation really fun and easy you can start with a f minute meditation all the way up to an hour and it's a really nice way to guide yourself through imagery and help calm the mind and the nervous system sleep is absolutely crucial and important and in the postpartum we're naturally sleep depr d as we're waking up frequently to feed our babies you may not be able to get a stretch of 7 or 8 hours but maybe 5 to 6 and sometimes you need to take care of yourself first so that could mean having a partner or a family member give baby a bottle so you can have a longer stretch of sleep in one go sleep is absolutely crucial for regulating our mood and helping with our energy levels and our coping you might find Exercise Works particularly well it doesn't have to be CrossFit or running on a treadmill for 20 minutes it could just be a brisk walk outside in nature or going up and down the stairs a few times anything to get that blood flow going to start moving that circulation and to release those Feelgood endorphins finally you're going to want to mind your nutrition so what we put inside of our bodies really determines how we feel and if we're not eating well and we're not getting enough nutrition we're going to feel really really run down so making sure you're taking good care of your body that leads me to self-care self-care means a lot of different things for different people and this one's particularly important because a lot of new moms feel that self-care is indulgent they have so much to do a new baby to look out for all the chores are piling up and focusing on themselves is an Indulgence that they don't have time for there's a reason why when you're on an airplane they tell you to put your oxygen mask on first and then assist a child or another person you cannot pour out of An Empty Glass you have to take care of yourself as well and taking care of yourself will help you take care of your babies if you're feeling a little overwhelmed and lost with all of those tips it might be helpful to try a mindfulness exercise together we're going to start by sitting in a comfortable spot so take a moment to get comfy take a nice big deep breath in feel your lungs and then relax those muscles drop those shoulders away from your ears this is one of my favorite mindfulness exercises I find it's it's really grounding and helpful to set you back in the moment when your anxiety starts to creep in so first we're going to talk about our senses and we work through all of the different senses one at a time I want you to start by identifying five things around the room that you can see so maybe it's a cushion in the room with a lovely texture or color maybe it's a tree outside the window maybe it's a cat in the corner curled up in a Sunbeam take a look around identify those objects and appreciate them in detail next we're going to move to four things that we can touch that we can feel that could be the cushion under your seat it could be the firmness of the floor beneath your toes or a nice squishy carpet it could be your partner's hand next to your hand I want you to take a moment to identify those four things that you can touch that are tangible and really really feel those Contours next I want you to close your eyes and we'll focus on our other senses with our sense of hearing I want you to identify three distinct sounds try and isolate them and listen to each one in detail that could be the noise of traffic outside or Construction maybe some music in another room perhaps a bird singing outside really enjoy the sounds next I want you to move on to your sense of smell what are two things that you can smell the aroma of coffee brewing in the kitchen or maybe the smell of flowers blooming outside the window in the flower box again really take your time to enjoy each distinct lovely Aroma and inhale deeply fill your lungs finally we move on to our sense of taste maybe it's the lingering Taste of coffee from your breakfast or a little hint of mint from your toothpaste now open your eyes at the end of the exercise I hope you're feeling a little more calm a little more grounded and a little more at peace and you can do this absolutely anytime you start to feel those anxiety symptoms creeping in all of these strategies are great starting points to manage mild anxiety but if you find that you're experiencing moderate or severe anxiety to the point where it's taking up most if not all of your day and those thoughts and worries are very intrusive and affecting your functioning then it's time to link in your health care providers they really need to be part of the team your healthc care provider may suggest additional therapies or treatments that comp lement the strategies we've discussed so far one of those is cognitive behavioral therapy cognitive behavioral therapy works to actually rewire the brain in a way where you're reframing the way that you approach the world and those emotions that come up automatically when certain challenges or difficulties arise it can be a very effective therapy medications may also come into play and you may already be taking medication but it's just not effective anymore or you need a higher dose or a different type of medication this might be part of the treatment plan Psychotherapy could also come into play here so discussing your concerns with a therapist or a psychotherapist or examining other modalities that your health Team recommends really it is a team effort so you personally with your healthc care team will come up with a plan and a modality that works best for you of course we can't forget our partners in this equation perinatal mental health issues affect them as well if you notice any of the symptoms we discussed in your partner it's a great opportunity to link in with your physician with your Midwife or other resources available in your community that brings us to the end of our discussion I hope you found the content useful there's lots of other videos in this series so be sure to check them out take care and we'll see you again soon