Pregnancy is the time in your life when you’re most likely to have sleep problems. In fact, some women who have never had trouble sleeping a single night in their life before pregnancy find themselves struggling to fall asleep or stay asleep when they’re pregnant.
It’s no wonder that you’re having trouble sleeping. There are so many things happening all at once to your body that you sometimes wonder why every pregnant woman isn’t a complete insomniac. From the chemical and hormonal changes to morning sickness (which can just as easily come at night) to aches and pains, pregnancy has may things that will keep you up.
If you find that you just can’t sleep during pregnancy, why not make use of the time, instead? Here are a handful of things to occupy yourself and pass the time when you’ve got pregnancy-induced insomnia:
- Get educated. Sure, you’re probably pouring through all of those books on parenting and pregnancy during the day, so you really don’t need to spend more time learning about epidurals. Instead, consider reading a book on gardening, or studying a foreign language. Who knows, by the time your baby arrives you could speak fluent Chinese.
- Do some reading. Sit down with a good book – again, not one on parenting or pregnancy. Read a novel, a newspaper or a magazine. Find something to take your mind off the pregnancy for a bit.
- Watch a movie. With the availability of movies on demand via your cable or satellite TV provider and subscription services like Netflix, there’s no need to even head off to the video store. You can even consider watching a movie on Hulu or one of the other online services.
- Bake. You’ve been craving chocolate cake, so why not make one? Just be careful here. You don’t need to eat an entire cake. After you make the cake but before you frost it, cut out a single piece. Place the rest in a double Ziploc baggie, and put it in the freezer. Frost and eat just the piece you’re going to eat.
