- By Prerna Targhotra
- Mon, 08 Apr 2024 05:18 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Surya Grahan 2024 Effect On Pregnant Women: A total solar eclipse will cover the skies around the world today. A solar eclipse is a popular astronomical phenomenon in which the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun by blocking the Sun’s light either entirely or partially. This is the first Surya Grahan of the year and is visible across a 185-kilometre stretch between Mexico, the US, and Canada.
According to the Indian Standard Time (IST), the solar eclipse began at 9:12 PM on April 8, totality will begin at 10:08 PM, and will end on April 9, 2024, at 2:22 AM. The popular beliefs around the solar eclipse include that pregnant women should not see the eclipse, you should not send your kids out during the eclipse and many others. In a conversation with Jagran English, Dr Astha Dayal, Lead Consultant, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, CK Birla Hospital, Gurugram explained how the solar eclipse affects expecting mothers and what precautions they should take.
Tips For Expecting Mothers During Solar Eclipse
According to Dr Dayal, there are a lot of cultural and religious beliefs around solar eclipse in pregnancy. However, scientific evidence only says that a pregnant woman should not be seeing a solar eclipse directly because of the heightened sensitivity of her eyes. If you watch the solar eclipse directly, the UV rays can cause retinal damage and this damage to the retina of the eyes is painless, so you won’t even know if there is damage happening, therefore be careful not to watch it directly.
Besides that, there are a lot of beliefs like you should not go out or you should not eat certain things, and you should not sleep during an eclipse but there is no medical evidence to support these so the same precautions as a non-pregnant woman that don’t watch it directly with your eyes and the usual precautions that we tell all pregnant women that they should stay well hydrated if they’re out and they should wear loose clothing because they have a tendency of getting overheated and their eyes also have a tendency of becoming more photosensitive because of hormonal changes.
Solar Eclipse 2024 Effects On Pregnant Mothers (Image Credits: Canva)
Dr Dayal also said that we do get a lot of patients who say that they have been asked not to go out, not to eat certain items, not to operate sharp objects, not to sleep and a lot of other precautions but I think it’s okay to maintain a balanced approach whatever your beliefs and customs are, whatever you can follow comfortably it’s okay to do but generally there is no scientific evidence regarding these things.
