Week 10 Post 3
I am so excited to continue my research. I cannot believe that so much research has been done regarding the links between health in utero and the risk of heart disease and chronic illness that many people probably do not know or follow. Of course, everyone knows not to drink alcohol or smoke while pregnant and most know to avoid caffeine. But all of these have immediate consequences. I feel like expecting mothers do not receive that much information on possible long term health effects for their child due to the mothers poor nutrition while expecting. Unhealthy pregnancy cravings are a major part of having a child. Equally detrimental is the stress that a baby experiences. I have heard people say "don't get worked up, it will hurt the baby" and other things along those lines, but I guess I never thought about how.
Do most people know about this epigenetic link between environmental factors in utero and chronic illness risk? Is it possible to reverse your risk? In the current state of America, is there any way to reduce the stress of an expecting mother? When anxiety is a function and product of our society? Should women have leave that is included while they are pregnant? How is it possible in our current society to avoid these threats to the health and safety of an embryo? Does this get worse for older mothers? There are a lot of reasons not to have a baby passed a certain age, but is there child more or less likely to develop chronic illness?
I would say very few people know about the epigenetic link between environmental factors in utero and chronic illness risk? I was never told any of that when I was pregnant. How would you like to see expectant mothers get that information?
ReplyDeleteWhen a expectant mother goes to the OB-GYN, I do think that they are informed of risk during pregnancy, so I think we should just add that information there. I have a few ideas here actually. First, a lot of mothers struggle with gestational diabetes and they are responsible for checking their blood sugar daily, monitoring what they eat, and reporting to the doctor with more frequency. I think it should be kind of like this for all pregnancies. Midwives are a perfect interactive health partner I feel like because they do tend to focus more on lifestyle treatment. But, really just monitoring that diet and doing food logs. My grandma has insurance that requires her to take a picture of her dinner every night in order to purchase her pills at the store for free. I think she might have high cholestorol? Anyways, I find that brilliant because it is an incentive that ensures healthy practices. Could we do some type of discounted child health insurance or like access to a better hospital room if you just take a picture of what you eat and submit it on an app? This is a really rough idea but it feels accessible.
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