What you should know about physical activity during pregnancy?

Nowadays we know about advantages of physical activity during pregnancy. Some of them can decrease risk of excessive gestational weight gain, gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, preterm birth, varicose veins, and deep vein thrombosis. Physical activity during pregnancy can reduce length of labour and delivery complications too.

Despite physical benefits of regular exercise, there are also psychological benefits, such as reduced fatigue, stress, anxiety, and depression, as well as improved well-being.  The evidence shows that  women who are active during pregnancy are more likely to continue physical activity during postpartum.

Moreover, it is worth to know how your body responds to changes throughout your pregnancy if you decide to take regular physical activity. There are greater changes happening (heart rate, cardiac output, ventilation, and energy expenditure) in this particular stage of your life compare to prepregnancy.  

As we can see, there are many information available out there regarding physical activity during pregnancy. However personally I would look for recommendations from professional and refer to varies medical articles including guidelines. This is due to that every pregnancy is individual and what can work for me might not work for you. Due to above, you can be guided how long, how far, how often, and at what intensity of exercises is appropriate for you.

For example, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that adults age 18 to 64 years should engage in at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity throughout the week, or at least 75 minutes of vigorous intensity aerobic activity, or an equivalent combination of the two. You might not be able to meet those recommendation at least initially. Or strengthening exercises should be done two or more days per week, but again for you it might be too much if you were not active before pregnancy. Finally, hormonal changes increase joint laxity that may place a woman at increased risk for injury too. So again it is very important to take precaution and you should seek medical advice before you decide to start taking regular exercises during your pregnancy.

References:

1. Pivarnik JM, Chambliss H, Clapp J, III, et al. Impact of physical activity during pregnancy and postpartum on chronic disease risk. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2006;38(5):989–1006. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16672855

2. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. ODPHP Publication No. U0036. Washington, D.C: [Accessed November 1, 2012]. 2008. at http://www.health.gov/paguidelines/

3. Davies G, Wolfe L, Mottola M, MacKinnon C. Joint SOGC/CSEP clinical practice guideline: Exercise in pregnancy and the postpartum period. Can J Appl Physiol. 2003;28(3):330–341. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12955862

4. Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Exercise in pregnancy. [Accessed September 1, 2012];RCOG Statement No. 4 - January 2006. 2006 at http://www.rcog.org.uk/files/rcog-corp/uploaded-files/RCOGStatement4ExercisePregnancy2006.pdf.

5. Mottola M. Chapter 12: Performance in the pregnant woman: maternal and fetal considerations. In: Taylor N, Groeller H, editors. Physiological Bases of Human Performance During Work and Exercise. Elsevier; USA: 2008. pp. 225–237.

 

6. O’Toole ML. Physiologic aspects of exercise in pregnancy. Clin Obstet Gynecol. 2003;46(2):379–389. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12808388

 

7. Vladutiu C, Evenson K, Marshall S. Physical activity and injuries during pregnancy. J Physical Activity Health. 2010;7:761–769. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3319730/

 

8. World Health Organization. Global Recommendations on Physical Activity for Health. Geneva, Switzerland: [Accessed September 28, 2012]. 2010. at http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/44399/1/9789241599979_eng.pdf