14 DAY TRIAL // One recent study shows how, when it comes to squirrels, being a stressed-out mom during pregnancy does nothing to harm the baby.
Quite the contrary: it encourages it to grow faster once it is born, despite its getting the same amount of food that baby squirrels born to calm mothers do.
The researchers who studied this phenomenon believe that the cortisol levels (i.e. a stress hormone) some mother squirrels become exposed to during pregnancy force the newborn into growing faster so as to better cope with the stressful living conditions its mom is already too familiar with.
In other words, it all boils down to adaptation.
“What that suggests is that they're first able to predict what sort of environment their offspring will encounter… and they're preparing them for what their offspring are going to face,” study lead author Ben Dantzer reportedly said.
Unfortunately, this rule does not apply to humans, which is why women would do best to keep calm all throughout pregnancy.