While postpartum and perinatal depression are well-known challenges for pregnant women, more common anxiety disorders have received less attention.
Approximately 15% of people experience anxiety-related disorders during pregnancy and the postpartum period, or in the weeks after giving birth, increasing the risk of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis wanted to understand how sleep disorders affect all of this.
In a recently published study, sleepResearchers, including senior author and psychiatrist Mary Kimmel, M.D., of WashU Medicine, and psychologist Rebecca Cox, Ph.D., of Arts & Sciences, studied approximately 230 women during early and late pregnancy and early and late postpartum to examine how sleep problems correlated with symptoms of anxiety and OCD.
Cox, assistant professor of psychology and brain sciences and lead author of the paper, said it can be difficult to get a full night’s sleep during this time. The perinatal period refers to the period from pregnancy to the first two years of life, during which sleep disturbances are prominent. Sleep disorders can be caused by a variety of factors, including hormonal and physical changes and stress factors associated with pregnancy.
The new study echoes previous research suggesting that sleep problems during pregnancy are particularly pronounced in the third trimester, increase in the early postpartum period, and stabilize thereafter. However, the downstream effects of sleep disturbances on anxiety required further investigation.
Study participants completed several measures of sleep habits and anxiety, including questions about “worried about the baby” and “fear of harm to the baby,” as well as questions related to traits of OCD, such as expressing beliefs such as “harmful things will happen if I’m not careful” and “things won’t be right unless they’re perfect.”
The researchers also investigated how confidence in one’s ability to “cope” during pregnancy affected sleep and anxiety. Coping measures look at a person’s sense that the situation is “under control,” or their perceived ability to respond flexibly to changing demands, Cox said.
In general, the study authors found that short sleep duration was associated with an increase in perinatal anxiety and obsessive thoughts over time. Mothers whose sleep was more disturbed had, on average, higher perinatal anxiety, and the effect was greater for mothers with lower levels of coping skills.
In contrast, coping did not influence the association between sleep and obsessions. This study did not support the idea that anxiety and obsessive thoughts predict sleep deprivation in the opposite direction. This means that sleep deprivation generally precedes the appearance of anxiety-related symptoms.
According to the study authors, the main findings suggest that shorter sleep duration is a “more robust long-term predictor of perinatal anxiety,” and sleep disturbances may be a good target for perinatal mental health interventions.
The bottom line, according to Cox, is that “Trying to prioritize mothers’ sleep may have a positive impact on their mental health. ”
sauce:
Washington University in St. Louis
Reference magazines:
Cox, R.C.; others. (2026) Subjective sleep disturbances, coping, anxiety and related symptoms in the perinatal period: Results from a longitudinal study. sleep. DOI: 10.1093/sleep/zsag089. https://academic.oup.com/sleep/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/sleep/zsag089/8571424
