What are the changes in pulse rate during pregnancy?

I believe many people know that Chinese medicine can determine whether a person is pregnant by taking the pulse. This is not only found in costume dramas, but also exists in real life. The pulse of a pregnant woman is slippery, relatively smooth and fluent, while the normal pulse is relatively steady and strong. There is a very obvious difference between the two. This article introduces the difference between happy pulse and normal pulse. If you are interested, let’s take a look.

The pulse of pregnancy is slippery

“A slippery pulse means that the pulse flows smoothly and should be round and smooth, like beads rolling on a jade plate.” When taking the pulse, if it is a slippery pulse, it will be like a row of bubbles, or a small iron bead passing through the person's ring finger, middle finger and index finger in turn, at a fast speed, one after another. The slippery pulse is beating strongly. After pregnancy, the blood flow in the pregnant woman's body increases by more than 20% than usual, so the pulse beats stronger than that of ordinary people. This is the most obvious difference. Therefore, the pulse of pregnancy is usually slippery.

To put it simply: if you are pregnant, your ring finger, middle finger and index finger can all clearly feel the cheerful beating of the pulse. If one of the three fingers cannot feel the beating, it means you are not pregnant.

The difference between the happy pulse and the normal pulse

Happy pulse: When pressed, it feels smooth, like beads rolling on a plate. It should be smooth and there is a feeling of swirling and moving forward, which can be understood as a fluent pulse. (When taking the pulse, you can feel that the pulse beats smoothly without any stagnation, and the pulse rate seems to be moving rapidly. There is a smooth feeling of "beads rolling on a plate" under the fingers).

Normal pulse: The pulse is gentle, flowing smoothly, with an even rhythm, soft and powerful, and lasts four to five times in one breath. Depending on the season, there are tendencies of spring strings, summer floods, autumn hairs and winter stones. The pulse is very similar to the artery, so pay more attention when taking the pulse.

Artery: The pulse is smooth, rapid and strong, and should be referred to as bean-like sudden beats, but the pulsation site is shorter and smaller than that of the slippery pulse, so it is said to be "as big as a bean, and shaken". The diseases it treats include shock and pain. Because pain causes disharmony between yin and yang, qi blocks blood, and fright causes disorder of qi and blood, making the pulse agitated, so arteries can be seen.