Women who are suffering from postpartum depression may want to take a look at the amount of plastic they use daily and those who are may want to limit their contact with it as much as possible. This comes after a new study has found that exposure to during pregnancy may increase the risk of .

Researchers from the NYU Langone Medical Center conducted a small-scale study to determine if being and bisphenols during pregnancy resulted in higher levels of postpartum depression in women.

The study, published in , chose 139 women to participate from 2016 to 2018.

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To determine the levels of phthalates and bisphenols (BPA) in their system, urine samples were collected. Researchers also wanted to check levels of sex hormones, which are known to fluctuate when exposed to higher levels of phthalates, according to . To do so, blood samples were drawn.

After analyzing the results of the data collected, researchers found that women who had higher amounts of phthalates in their urine sample were more likely to develop postpartum depression. your child's first and second birthday.

Further still, those with a higher measured amount of the chemical in their samples were found to have lower levels of progesterone. This is important to note as progesterone plays a large role in maintaining normal menstrual flow, is the steroid that allows women to get pregnant, and is also what helps to maintain a healthy pregnancy once the embryo is embedded in the uterus, according to .

More importantly, however, progesterone also maintains the mood. And the mood is one of the most notable changes in a person when it comes to postpartum depression.

Not surprisingly, researchers are calling for a reduction in exposure to phthalates and BPA to potentially reduce the occurrence in which women are afflicted with postpartum depression.

According to , an estimated 15 percent of new mothers will suffer from postpartum depression each year. This breaks down to be approximately 950,000 women. However, as the publication points out, these are only the diagnosed cases. When including those that may go undiagnosed, those numbers could be as high as 1.3 million women who have postpartum depression annually.

With numbers as high as these are, as well as the health impact that phthalates have on the body in other ways, it is time to start finding alternatives to the chemical.

Phthalates are found in almost every Americans' system. These chemicals are commonly found in personal care, home cleaning supplies, toys, and more, according to . Therefore, ridding the chemical completely from the body is quite difficult.

However, by making changes now, perhaps future generations will fare better. And perhaps, the high numbers of postpartum depression can be reduced as well.

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