Stress in Pregnancy Increases Baby's Asthma and Allergy Risk

Filed in archive Allergy: Research and Development , Asthma , Living with Allergies on May 20, 2008

Here's another item to be included in the list of things pregnant women should avoid to reduce their kid's risk of having allergies and asthma: stress.

Babies born to mothers experiencing high levels of stress had more IgE in their blood at birth than did babies born to less-stressed moms. IgE is an antibody involved in allergic and asthmatic reactions.

"Moms who had elevated levels of stress had children who seemed to be more reactive to allergens, even when exposed to low levels of allergens," said study co-author Dr. Rosalind Wright, an assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Well, pregnant or not, too much stress cannot result to anything good. The question is, how does one reduce stress?!?