A Review of Sleep Architecture and Sleep Changes During Pregnancy

Poor sleep is widely recognized as a common complaint in pregnancy, and yet there are incomplete data on the exact nature of these complaints, what their implications for fetal and maternal health are, and how to best recognize and address these significant health issues.

The purpose of this article is to review the current literature on the changes in objectively measured sleep parameters that occur during pregnancy, identify any possible trends, and discuss current implications for obstetric outcomes and treatments.

PubMed NCBI and Google Scholars database were searched for a variety of sleep-related terms, and articles were selected based on relevance to the topic and method of sleep pattern monitoring.

Poor sleep is ubiquitous during pregnancy, and the relatively few studies evaluating the issue using objective polysomnography have small sample sizes. However, data suggests sleep architecture changes begin as early as the first trimester, and there is evidence that primigravid sleep structure never returns to prepregnancy levels after birth. In addition, cesarean delivery frequency, early labor, labor length, depression, gestational hypertension, and gestational diabetes all appear to be influenced by sleep changes. Current treatments are based on nonpregnant populations and may not be appropriate for the gravid patient.

Disordered sleep is a more widespread and serious issue than most women are aware, and there are numerous obstetric and general health implications to cause clinician concern. More research is needed on both electroencephalography architecture changes and treatment options.