Pregnancy is an important period involving happiness and disconcertion for women over the course of around 40 weeks. Women should take care of the baby during each trimester while also try to maintain self-health since the child also undergoes a physical transformation during the stage. Henceforth, it is quite essential for women to get adequate rest during the pregnancy period.

However, they would face issues such as muscle pain, overnight fatigue, heartburn, and metamorphosis, which might affect their sleeping pattern or prevent them from getting adequate sleep. In the starting trimester of pregnancy, women tend to feel excessive jadedness due to the increased production of the hormone ‘progesterone’.

In addition, sudden changes in metabolism in women may cause the lethargy, which may even impede sleep. However, in the second trimester of pregnancy, women usually sleep better but snoring occurs in the weeks thereafter. Snoring in pregnant women is attributed to many factors including the below ones:

• A rise in estrogen hormone levels which swells the mucous membranes. This in turn cause blockages in the nasal airway aside from causing other issues like pigmentations on the skin, and nausea.
• Pregnancy causes a surge in blood count in order to support the baby’s growth. The rise in volume would cause expansion of the blood vessels. This is bound to occur in the nasal cavity.
• The physical transformation results in the formation of excess fat around the neck and the throat of pregnant women. This might block the airway and the breathing process. Women facing gestational diabetes are susceptible to sleep apnea too.

That is why a pregnant woman should seek help from their spouse to monitor the sleep patterns and even consult with a sleep specialist to diagnose apnea. The tests of apnea include a home sleep test that comes in handy especially for pregnant women. Usually, apnea is characterized by heavy breathing, which causes cessations and makes patients gasp for breath for a few seconds or more. Mild to moderate apnea with loud snoring is often cured by anti snoring devices like the mouthpiece that advances the lower jaw forward and helps the snorer to reduce or stop snoring.

Since apnea affects the quality of sleep and can even result in serious sleeping disorders. This means that pregnant women who snore should take appropriate treatment and follow doctors’ recommendations on diet. The sleep disorder may cause overnight fatigue, tiredness in the daytime, and affects cognition. Besides, loud snoring during pregnancy may make women prone to preeclampsia, a medical condition characterized by high blood pressure levels.