Why pregnant women should sleep on their left side

Most doctors recommend that pregnant women sleep on their left side rather than on their right side or back. Why is this recommended?

"NIf a pregnant woman lies on her back, the fetus can press on the vena cava, reducing the amount of blood pumped back to the heart," said Dr.Grace Pien, assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (USA) explained toLive Science.

"Although there is no official research on whether to sleep on the left or right side, according to medical theory, sleeping on the left side will reduce the risk of pressure on the vena cava more than the right side."

According to Dr. Pien, once the fetus presses on the vena cava, the blood pumped to the heart decreases, leading to a drop in blood pressure and a decrease in the amount of oxygen in the blood for both mother and baby (since the mother's blood is the source of oxygen for the baby). Most healthy women and fetuses can tolerate this slight decrease in oxygen, but women with a history of blood pressure or respiratory problems are at risk.

In addition, the above researchInternational Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecologyshowed that sleeping on the back of a pregnant woman increases the risk of stillbirth by 2.3 times. Another study concluded that most women who miscarried slept on their right side the night before losing their baby.

However, women do not need to worry too much about sleeping positions. In fact, there is not enough scientific evidence to confirm that pregnant women absolutely should not sleep on their right side. If you do not have high blood pressure or respiratory problems and do not feel uncomfortable sleeping on your left side, you can still sleep on your right side to avoid sleep deprivation.

The most important thing during pregnancy is to ensure rest time, because lack of sleep or sleeping less than 5-6 hours per night will lead to the risk of gestational diabetes and preeclampsia.

Ngoc Khue