Using hypnobirthing to control hormones in labour
We know Hypnobirthing can be extremely effective in helping you to remain calm and controlled during labour. The reason for this is that it gives your body a chance to indulge in ‘relaxing, feel-good’ hormones while driving away the ‘fear-based, fight or flight’ hormones.
During labour, there are as many as 4 groups of hormones working simultaneously to keep you alert and safe, relaxed and calm, provide natural in-built pain relief and get your milk supply up and running ready for baby. That is A LOT for one hormonal system to balance and the scales can easily tip – so keeping yourself calm and relaxed can really give your body a helping hand in the regulation of all of this at once. It’s helpful to understand what tehse hormones are and what they are trying to do - so here they are.
Oxytocin
This one you may have heard of – often referred to as the ‘love’ hormone. It is released when you feel good – so when you’re happy, laughing or feeling loved. It is often heightened during sex, when experiencing an orgasm and during breastfeeding.
It is also at dramatically increased levels during labour; however, its main function is slightly different. During labour and birth, it works to bring on each surge/contraction. Oxytocin does 2 main things at the same time – it stimulates your uterine muscles to contract while also boosting the production of prostaglandins, these also help to increase uterine contractions.
If labour is progressing as expected, your body will be producing enough oxytocin and prostaglandins to keep your contractions strong and regular throughout. If your labour begins to slow down or doesn’t start by itself at all you may be offered a synthetic, man-made version of this hormone called Syntocinon (synthetic-oxytocin) to give your uterus a bit of extra help to contract. This is referred to by many women as ‘the drip’ during the induction and labour process.
Oxytocin not only helps to contract your uterus, it also helps you to reduce stress, making you feel calmer during labour, birth and postnatally. It helps with mum and baby bonding, is one of the most important hormones in breastfeeding, and contracts your uterus back down after the birth to reduce excessive bleeding.
Oxytocin plays an undoubtedly huge role during labour, birth, the postnatal period and breastfeeding. If you access any hypnobirthing content you will find that a lot of it steers you towards maximising oxytocin throughout this timeframe where possible.
Adrenaline and Noradrenaline
These are commonly referred to as the ‘fight or flight’ hormones. They are produced in situations of stress and excitement.
When adrenaline is released by the body it can often be felt through a series of physical symptoms – it makes your heart beat faster and your lungs breathe more efficiently. Blood is quickly diverted to your brain, arms and legs to allow for rapid movement, it increases your blood pressure, makes you more alert and raises your blood sugar levels to give you a burst of energy.
Adrenaline is a very important hormone during birth. It helps to ensure safety of environment and self, and continues to give you ‘boosts’ throughout the labouring process. It is particularly beneficial towards the end of labour to give birthing people the surge of energy and ‘fight’ required to birth the baby.
While these hormones work together and can be incredibly helpful in labour and birth, a balance is important.
If you feel scared, unsafe, anxious and on high-alert you may be over-producing adrenaline which can inhibit the production of oxytocin and ultimately slow or even stop your labour from progressing. This is often seen very clearly on trips to hospital in early labour. Birthing people will be having regular surges/contractions at home that are increasing in intensity and then once they arrive at the hospital these surges/contractions disappear or become much more manageable and this is because Adrenaline and Noradrenaline have peaked and inhibited Oxytocin production.
Beta-Endorphins
These are often referred to as pleasure hormones, similar to Oxytocin they are heightened when you feel good, particularly during sex, labour, birth and breastfeeding. Beta-Endorphins are a naturally occurring opiate, comparable to well known synthetic medications like morphine or heroin.
In labour and birth, they work to naturally reduce and relieve pain, which is seemingly only a brilliant thing, however in animal studies it has been found that over production of Beta-Endorphins during labour and birth can work in a similar way to adrenaline and have the ability to inhibit the production of sufficient oxytocin and therefore slow labour down.
Prolactin
Prolactin is the primary hormone of breastfeeding. Levels of it begin to increase in your body as soon as you become pregnant. They peak at birth and particularly with the delivery of your placenta. While all of the other hormonal systems are working together in labour to keep you feeling safe, alert, calm and helping labour to progress; prolactin is increasing and working in the background ready for baby to be born. It starts to send milk-making signals to your brain so that once baby is here, their potential food-source is not far behind.
A final note…
It is all a big internal balancing act, but one thing for sure is that remaining calm and feeling in control, regularly practicing techniques to keep your focus, along with gaining knowledge, using your BRAIN acronym and understanding the process can really help to regulate these internal systems that are at play during labour and birth.
