Study results - consequences of lack of sleep during pregnancy
The study has discovered that pregnant women who had less than six hours of sleep each night during early pregnancy had systolic blood pressure in their last trimester almost 4 mm Hg higher than women who slept nine hours nightly. And women who got less than five hours of sleep increase their risk of developing preeclampsia - a serious pregnancy complications associated with high blood pressure - more than nine times.
On the other hand more than 9 hours of sleep is also a problem: women who reported more than 10 hours sleep per night in their first trimester had more than double the risk of developing preeclampsia, according to the study published in the journal 'Sleep' in October.
Women generally need seven to nine hours of sleep per night during pregnancy, preferably nine hours.
