Exercise is always vital for a person’s health, but when you’re pregnant, it has some unique benefits for you and your baby. Getting regular physical movement during pregnancy can be beneficial for many reasons, including managing and preventing certain symptoms and conditions, boosting your mental health and preparing your body for labor.
Ways exercise can help during pregnancy
Symptom management
- Although they may not be entirely preventable, exercise can help stave off or manage certain common pregnancy symptoms like headache, bloating, and constipation. While working out can feel impossible, even a walk around the block or a good stretch can do wonders for certain symptoms.
Reducing risks
- Exercise may reduce the risk of gestational diabetes and help those folks with with it control their blood sugars more easily.
- Regular physical activity may play a role in keeping your circulatory system in shape, which can reduce the risk of certain hypertensive disorders of pregnancy – like preeclampsia.
Help with your mood
- Moving our bodies helps to release a protein called BDNF which helps to re-set mood. It also releases feel-good endorphins. So, regular exercise can help to reduce stress, anxiety and improve your mental health.
Prepping for labor
- In case you haven’t heard by now, labor can be a marathon. However, building strength in your lower body, core, and pelvic muscles is a highly effective means of preparing your body to deal with the physical and mental stress of labor.
If you have a condition that makes physical movement difficult or unsafe, there may be ways to move your body in a modified or safer way. Talk to your medical team to see if there are gentle movements or physical therapy that might be right for you!
When not to exercise
Although it’s very important to exercise during pregnancy, sometimes the unexpected happens, and it’s actually riskier to work out than to not.
Bed rest
Although it is being ordered less and less often these days, women who are deemed to have cervical insufficiency, or other type of potential pregnancy complication may be instructed to remain on bed rest for the rest of their pregnancy until delivery day. Women who are put on bed rest should avoid activity (save trips to the bathroom, etc.) unless specifically instructed by their healthcare provider. Although you may not be able to get the exercise you’d like, there are still ways to get a bit of activity, like lifting very light weights in bed, or doing ankle circles. However, you should always speak with your healthcare provider before beginning any activity regimen while on bed rest, no matter how slight.
Symptoms to never ignore
If you notice vaginal bleeding, or serious vision changes, or another of the symptoms to never ignore, it’s a good idea to avoid exercise even if you haven’t spoken to your healthcare provider yet. One day skipping exercise won’t hurt, particularly if it may exacerbate an existing problem.
General discomfort
Even if you’re otherwise perfectly healthy, it’s completely okay to take a break from the exercise every now and then. From too tired, to too bloated, to too swollen, there are lots of reasons you might not want to work out on a given day during pregnancy, and here’s the thing: there’s nothing wrong with that! Everybody deserves a break every now and then, so if you’re not up to it, youre not up to it – it’s not fair or realistic to place undue pressure on yourself to workout everyday.
You should always speak to your healthcare provider about exercising during pregnancy, particularly if you think you might have a more serious issue.
Read more
Sources
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- B Sternfeld, CP Quesenberry Jr, B Eskenazi, LA Newman. “Exercise during pregnancy and pregnancy outcome.” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 27(5):634-40. Web. May-95.
- E Labonte-Lemoyne, D Curnier, D Ellemberg. “Foetal brain development is influenced by maternal exercise during pregnancy.” AbstractsOnline. Kinesiology, University of Montreal, 11/10/2013. Web.
- Committee on Obstetric Practice. “Exercise During Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period: Committee Opinion Number 267.” ACOG. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 1/2/2015. Web.
- Mayo Clinic Staff. “Pregnancy weight gain: What’s healthy?” Mayo Clinic. Mayo Clinic, 3/4/2014. Web.
- Mayo Clinic Staff. “Bed rest during pregnancy: Get the facts.” Mayo Clinic. Mayo Clinic, 4/13/2014. Web.
- SL Nascimento, et al. “Physical exercise during pregnancy: a systematic review.” Curr Opin Obstet Gynecol. 24(6):387-94. Web. Dec 2012.
