Emotional distress may decrease deep sleep, increase REM sleep during pregnancy
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Key takeaways:
- There was a negative association between emotional distress and deep sleep during pregnancy.
- There was also a positive association between emotional distress and rapid eye movement sleep during pregnancy.
BALTIMORE — In a new study, emotional distress was negatively associated with negative sleep, including decreased deep sleep and increased REM sleep during pregnancy.
“One in five women experience emotional distress indicated by depression or anxiety and one in two may report just poor sleep quality or shorter duration of sleep during pregnancy,” Yuqing Guo, RN, PhD, FAAN, associate professor at the Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing at the University of California, Irvine, said during a presentation at the ACOG Annual Clinical & Scientific Meeting.
The longitudinal, prospective, observation study included 13 women (mean age, 29.41 years) aged 18 to 40 years who were in their second or third trimester of pregnancy, had access to a smartphone, and were willing to wear a smart ring (Oura) that measured objective indicators of sleep quantity and quality, total time of wakefulness after sleep onset and the amount of time it takes to fall asleep daily.
Researchers evaluated emotional distress using app-based weekly self reports of emotional distress via the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-2), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-2) scale, and COVID-19 anxiety and life-related stressors.
According to Guo, results demonstrated a negative association between emotional distress and deep sleep in this pregnant population (P = .01) and a positive association between emotional distress and REM sleep (P = .008).
Results showed no significant association between emotional distress and lighter sleep (P = .22), between emotional distress and awake time (P = .06) or between emotional distress and sleep onset (P = .62).
“The take-home message is that emotional distress is negatively associated with decreased deep sleep and increased rapid eye movement sleep during pregnancy,” Guo said. “The clinical implication is that it suggests that this emotional distress can impact sleep physiology during pregnancy.”