Pregnancy Exercise – Overview
It will be simpler for you to adjust to your altering form and weight increase the more fit and active you are when pregnant. Additionally, it will assist you in getting through labor and recovering from childbirth.
As long as you feel comfortable, do your regular daily physical activity or exercise (sport, dance, yoga, running, or even just going to and from the store).
Your infant won’t be in danger from exercise. Some evidence suggests that active women are less likely to have issues with labor and later pregnancy.
Safety of Exercise During Pregnancy
Even if it’s true that now isn’t the ideal time to start how to water ski or sign up for a horse-jumping competition, the majority of women can still participate in most exercise activities. You’d struggle to perform several exercises that are prohibited during pregnancy (like mountain biking or downhill skiing) if you had a basketball-sized belly.
However, before beginning any fitness routine while pregnant, make sure to receive the go-ahead from your doctor. Exercise is not advised during pregnancy if certain problems exist, including placenta previa, incompetent cervix, ruptured membranes, and severe anemia.
The Recommended Exercise Time During Pregnancy
According to peer doctors, pregnant and recently delivered mothers should engage in at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week. The 150 minutes can be broken up into five 30-minute workout sessions each week or smaller daily 10-minute sessions. However, if you are pregnant or unable to exercise for the recommended 150 minutes per week, even a little bit of activity will benefit you.
Preferred Exercises During Pregnancy
Walking
Walking when pregnant is the easiest workout to fit into your hectic schedule. And you can keep working out right up until the day of your delivery (or even on that day if you want to speed up the contractions). Furthermore, all you need is a pair of decent shoes and you can participate without any extra tools or a gym membership.
Dancing Or Aerobic Exercises
If you’re a beginner exerciser, low-impact aerobics and dance workout courses like Zumba are terrific methods to raise your heart rate and release endorphins. Avoid any tasks that demand precise balance while your abdomen grows. If you’re an expert athlete, pay attention to your body, stay away from jumping or other high-impact activities, and never push yourself to exhaustion while working out. Choose the water-based version of aerobics if you’ve never worked out before; it’s great for expectant women.
Swimming
The ideal pregnancy workout may just be swimming and water aerobics. Why? You will feel lighter and more agile in the water since you weigh less there than you do on land. A swim in the pool may also aid with nausea relief, sciatic pain relief, and ankle swelling. Additionally, because your baby is floating alongside you, it is easy on your joints and ligaments as they become more flexible due to pregnancy hormones in your body.
Just be cautious when stepping onto slick pool decks, and slide or step into the water rather than diving in. The bubbles that occur inside the body when you abruptly shift altitudes under the pressure of the water are too much for your developing baby to endure, which is why scuba diving is strongly discouraged.
Running
Want to move a bit more quickly? With a doctor’s approval, experienced runners can continue their routine during pregnancy. Never overdo it; stick on level ground (or a treadmill). During pregnancy, loose ligaments and joints can make running tougher on your knees and increase your risk of injury.
Cycling (Indoor)
If you had been spinning for at least six months before becoming pregnant, you ought to be permitted to keep doing it as long as you scale back your workout and get your doctor’s approval. Since you may bike at your own pace without falling or putting stress on your ankle and knee joints, indoor cycling can be a great form of exercise.
Make sure your teacher is aware of your pregnancy, and skip a sprint if you start to feel too hot or worn out. To lessen the strain on your lower back, adjust the handlebars so that you are sitting up straighter and not leaning forward. When climbing hills, sit down since it is too strenuous for expectant mothers to stand. Take a break from spinning if it becomes tiresome until the baby is born.
Yoga
Prenatal yoga is another excellent exercise for expectant mothers: It promotes deep breathing, flexibility, attention, and relaxation, all of which are excellent prenatal preparations. Find a class designed especially for expectant mothers, or request that your normal yoga instructor alter the poses to make them secure for you (that typically entails avoiding full inversions like handstands and headstands due to potential blood pressure difficulties, as well as deep backbends). Avoid Bikram (hot) yoga because you should avoid movements that cause you to overheat.
Pilates
A pregnancy-safe Pilates program focuses mostly on low- to no-impact muscle stretching and core strengthening, which will improve posture, reduce backaches, and increase flexibility (and that all comes in handy during labor). To prevent movements that overstretch or are generally not compatible with pregnancy, look for a class designed exclusively for pregnant women or inform your teacher that you are expecting.
Exercise Should be Avoided During Pregnancy
• after 16 weeks, avoid lying flat on your back for prolonged amounts of time since the pressure from your bump on the main blood vessel returning blood to your heart can cause you to feel dizzy.
• avoid engaging in contact sports like kickboxing, judo, or squash where there is a chance of getting hit.
• Avoid scuba diving as your unborn child is not protected from decompression sickness and gas embolism (blood-stream gas bubbles). Avoid exercising at altitudes higher than 2,500 meters since both you and your unborn child are susceptible to altitude sickness.
References
https://www.nhs.uk/pregnancy/keeping-well/exercise/
https://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/exercises-for-pregnant-women
https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/fitness/a37050658/pregnancy-exercises/
Dr.Sharif Samir Alijla, is a general medical doctor and a well-rounded professional that cares and treats patients from Palestine. I participated in many medical studies and conferences, I've launched a range of community initiatives and taken part in a variety of leadership and change training programs. I worked as an author for many medical websites such as TebFact . I specialized in writing medical articles from authoritative and updated sources in a simple and smooth the way for the reader.