Meteosensitivity in Pregnant Women

Abstract

Background. About a third of the inhabitants of midlatitudes „feel” the weather. Meteosensitivity is more common in people having a little physical activity and various diseases. There is an opinion that meteosensitivity often occurs at pregnant women, however there are not many researches on this problem. Material and methods. Our objective was to investigate the impact of weather on the health of pregnant women. We carried out a survey of 254 postpartum women who were in obstetric hospitals of Grodno and Brest regions. We made the anonymous questionnaire including 26 questions about the state of health and meteosensitivity symptoms. Results and conclusions. Almost at a half of women (45.7%) meteosensitivity before pregnancy met seldom, at every fourth (24.4%) – it was frequent and at every third (29.9%) it wasn’t observed. Less than a half of women (41.7%) have noted an increased meteosensitivity during pregnancy. The greatest impact on health was caused by air pressure changes (worsened health at 29.1% of respondents), magnetic storms (at 28.3%), rapid warming (at 28.3%), cloudy weather (at 26.0%), rapid cold snap (at 24.4%). Only 7.8% of women didn’t note the influence of any weather factors. The most frequent symptomes were headaches (in 45.7% of cases), weakness (in 39.4%), sleepiness (in 34.6%), anxiety (in 22.0%), depressed mood (in 21.3%), low concentration and efficiency (16.5%). To cope with meteosensitivity pregnant most often used increasing the time of sleep and rest (68.5%), physical activity limitation (30.7%), taking vitamins (19.7%).