Women benefit a lot by engaging in physical activities during pregnancy. Nevertheless, because your body goes through series of changes during pregnancy, you need to take special precautions and follow recommended guidelines for exercise and fitness during pregnancy. Hormonal alterations during pregnancy boost the sloppiness of your joint. This can increase your risk of getting injured. Thus, you need to customize your exercise and fitness during pregnancy to minimize the risk of injury for you and your baby.
Health benefits of physical activity during pregnancy
There are many health benefits associated with exercising during pregnancy. These include the following:
- Minimal risk of gaining extra weight and suffering from health conditions like gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, preterm birth, varicose veins, and deep vein thrombosis
- Scientific evidence show that engaging in physical exercise during pregnancy reduces the length of labor and complications during delivery.Nevertheless, you don’t need to overdo it. Engaging in forceful physical activity can lead to reduction of birth weight.
- Exercise and fitness during pregnancy has a lot of mental benefits; it helps to minimize fatigue, stress, nervousness, and depression. It improves the overall wellbeing of the woman and the baby.
- Being active during pregnancy boosts public health because women who engage in physical exercise during pregnancy have the potential of maintaining the practice after delivery.
- Physiologic effects of exercise, like alterations in heart rate, cardiac productivity, ventilation, and additional energy utilization are all greater during pregnancy than before pregnancy, and may get greater towards the end of pregnancy that at the beginning of it.
Exercise and fitness during pregnancy: How you can stay active as an expectant mother
You can engage in exercise and fitness during pregnancy by following the tips below even if you have not been exercising before:
- Go for a walk around your home, in a recreational park, within your locality, or walk down to the shop with a relation or a friend. You can also go walking with your children if you have children.
- If you have been siting for most hours of the day; try to move around for a period not less than an hour. If you are watching the television, during advertisement periods, get up and walk round. When you are pregnant, merely engaging in less demanding exercise like walking on a spot can be very helpful.
How to stick to your exercise and fitness plan during pregnancy
- Plan your exercise schedule
- List the exercises you would love to engage in like going for a walk or attending prenatal yoga class.
- Choose suitable times for each of your selected forms of exercises. Some exercises may be better suited for morning, others for in the afternoon during lunch break, while there are others that would be more suitable after dinner or during weekends.
- Check your calendar for more suitable days of the week and stick with those.
Staying Safe while doing exercise and fitness during pregnancy
Although exercise and fitness during pregnancy is highly recommended, you must stay away from specific types of exercise during pregnancy so as not harm yourself or your baby. Speak to your doctor for recommendation on the types of exercises that is acceptable during pregnancy
- Only engage in less strenuous exercises like water aerobics and going for walks to avoid sustaining injury
- Drink adequate amount of water before, during, and after physical exercise.
- Put on comfortable clothes that provide sufficient support to your breast.
- If you experience any negative sign like dizziness, shortness of breath, fatigue, and so on, you must stop the exercise and consult with your health care provider for advice.
Importance of exercise and fitness during pregnancy
- Exercise and fitness during pregnancy ensures that you and your child maintain a healthy weight
- It helps to lessen the pains associated with pregnancy like backaches, leg cramps, constipation, bloating, and puffiness.
- It lessens the risk of gestational diabetes (diabetes associated with pregnancy).
- Exercise and fitness during pregnancy boost your energy level and elevates your mood.
- Exercise ensures that you get less strenuous and shorter labor.
- It helps you to recover fast and return back to your original healthy weight after pregnancy.
Nearly every woman needs to stick to exercise and fitness during pregnancy. However, you must play safe. Hormonal alterations during pregnancy boost the sloppiness of joint which increases her risk of getting injured. Thus, you need to adapt your exercise and fitness during pregnancy to minimize the risk of injury for you and your baby. Consult with your doctor when in doubt about what is acceptable and what is not.