Smaller babies more prone to depression, anxiet...(birth. Being born small isnt necess...),Health

Being born small isnt necessarily a problem. It is a problem if you were born small because of adverse conditions in the womband low birth weight is what we looked at in this study because it is considered a marker of stress in the womb. When a mother is really stressed, blood flow to the uterus is restricted and the fetus gets fewer nutrients, which tends to lead to lower birth weight, explained Colman.

At the same time, because the mother is stressed, stress hormones are passing through the placenta to the fetus and may affect the fetuss neurodevelopment and stress response. Under these conditions, the part of the childs brain that deals with stress could be programmed incorrectly in uterothe brain doesnt develop as it would under ideal circumstances. If this theory is correct, you would find that when stressful events occur, the people who were smaller babies would be more likely to become depressed or anxious, said Colman.

Notable strengths of this study include the nationally representative sample, the sample size, and the long follow-up with the members of the 1946 cohort, whose anxious and depressive symptoms were measured at 13, 15, 36, 43 and 53 years of age.

The idea that things that are happening in the womb might predict your health much later on in life is absolutely fascinating. And the public health implications of that are huge, said Colman. I have been asked by many people what the take-home message of this study is, and I would say that, in the simplest terms, it is We should take better care of pregnant women. The kind of stress that pregnant mothers are under has a significant long-term effect on the developing fetus.

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