Sleep in Pregnancy

Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring develops inside a woman. This chapter focuses on sleep quality and emergence of sleep disorders in pregnancy, which has implications for both the fetus as well as the mother. An overview of empirical evidence of the association between disturbed sleep in pregnancy and pregnancy-related outcomes is provided along with a ion of The chapter also reviews common sleep disturbances in pregnancy, such as sleep-disordered breathing, insufficient sleep, poor sleep quality, and restless legs syndrome, and synthesizes current knowledge of the impact of poor sleep on pregnancy outcomes, with a particular emphasis on fetal well-being. Evidence is also presented on the potential for maternal sleep to influence fetal origins of chronic disease.