A recent study published in Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare explores this question using heart rate variability (HRV) and subjective stress assessments.
Key Findings
- Stress Patterns:
- Women with adverse pregnancy histories did not exhibit higher stress than their counterparts.
- Subjective stress assessments showed interindividual variation but no consistent trend across pregnancy or postpartum.
- HRV as an Indicator:
- Objective HRV data revealed fluctuations in stress-related metrics, such as RMSSD, which decreased during pregnancy and recovered postpartum.
- HRV parameters varied between groups but did not correlate directly with subjective stress scores.
- Technological Feasibility:
- Continuous monitoring with wearable devices (smartwatches) demonstrated the viability of passive HRV tracking in free-living conditions.
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Originally published in Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare
Authors: Hannakaisa Niela-Vilen, Eeva Ekholm, Fatemeh Sarhaddi, Iman Azimi, Amir M. Rahmani, Pasi Liljeberg, Miko Pasanen, Anna Axelin
