I've been studying up on endorphins and the role they play during labor for my next newsletter. I'm so excited about some of the things I am finding out that I had to share a few ways to help you increase your own endorphins during labor.
1)Medications like opiods, epidurals, and pitocin are associated with lower levels of endorphins, so should be avoided if there is not a medical reason to have them, and your striving for a natural labor.
2)Exercise. Women who regularly exerscise while pregnant have a huge increase of endorphins during their labor.
3)Increase endorphin releasing behaviors: rocking, pacing, massage, light touch, encourage noises that seem to help.
Some behaviors that I wonder if they help are opening and closing the hands and stretching.
I'm still researching too, so stay tuned. One thing I have found interesting, is that the actions that women use to increase endorphins(such as rocking, pacing, noises etc), are often seen as signs of distress by many people. It would be good to educate people that this is actually helping them to cope by releasing hormones to decrease their pain and give them a sense of well being. Again,sometimes it takes a trained eye to spot the difference between a moan that means I'm in pain and a moan that is a coping mechanism.
1)Medications like opiods, epidurals, and pitocin are associated with lower levels of endorphins, so should be avoided if there is not a medical reason to have them, and your striving for a natural labor.
2)Exercise. Women who regularly exerscise while pregnant have a huge increase of endorphins during their labor.
3)Increase endorphin releasing behaviors: rocking, pacing, massage, light touch, encourage noises that seem to help.
Some behaviors that I wonder if they help are opening and closing the hands and stretching.
I'm still researching too, so stay tuned. One thing I have found interesting, is that the actions that women use to increase endorphins(such as rocking, pacing, noises etc), are often seen as signs of distress by many people. It would be good to educate people that this is actually helping them to cope by releasing hormones to decrease their pain and give them a sense of well being. Again,sometimes it takes a trained eye to spot the difference between a moan that means I'm in pain and a moan that is a coping mechanism.
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