‘Exercise is important for our health’- you have probably heard this a thousand times, haven’t you?
So what new happens when you get pregnant? Why is staying active during pregnancy highly recommended by healthcare professionals?
And again, what keeping your body healthy during pregnancy actually involves?
Read this blog to know all about staying active during pregnancy.
What Does Research Have To Say?
According to the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists, performing moderately intense exercises for 30 minutes a day is healthy for a pregnant woman.
Now, what’s more striking is the evidence they have got around the healthy impact of exercising on babies.
Studies have found that staying active during pregnancy can make your baby less susceptible to any chronic illnesses in future.
This suggests that maternal exercise would not only produce healthy babies but will help in keeping them healthy throughout their lives.
In addition to all the physical benefits that the scientists have found, exercising during pregnancy has been linked to improved emotional well-being along with an overall increase in psychological well-being among mothers-to-be.
Benefits of staying active during pregnancy
Here are the five primary benefits of staying active throughout your pregnancy.
Keeps You Fit
As cliche as it might sound, staying fit during your pregnancy is one of the top reasons why maternal exercise is recommended.
At multiple levels of pregnancy, there’s so little you can do to have control over your bodily mechanisms. From weight gain to increased nausea, pregnancy comes with its own set of complications.
So, how staying fit through exercise can help?
Exercising while your body deals with all the new changes can keep your mind extremely calm. It takes your mind off things and stabilises your thought process.
A few minutes of exercise helps in assuring you that these are the little things you can do to have control over your and the baby’s health.
Regulates Gestational Weight Gain
Gaining weight during pregnancy is the most natural and important process to happen.
While how many pounds you should gain would depend on your pre-pregnancy weight gain and your BMI, putting on around 11-16 kgs throughout your pregnancy has been suggested to be normal.
However, excessive weight gain during pregnancy can make things complicated.
How?
Excessive gestational weight gain is linked with maternal complications, including cesarean delivery, hypertension, pre-eclampsia and Gestational diabetes.
However, indulging in exercise regulates your weight to significant levels. Research suggests that exercising three days per week for 30-45 minutes each time can both prevent and reduce Gestational weight gain.
Improves Sleep Patterns
Disturbances in your sleep cycles can be extremely common when you are expecting.
While monitoring a healthy food intake can help you with a good night’s sleep, physical activity has been found to be useful too.
If you experience poor sleep quality, constant awakenings at night and short sleep duration, indulging in physical exercise can help.
Research has found a positive association between low-intensity exercises and healthy sleep cycles.
While certain yoga poses like the cat-cow pose and corpse pose(savasana) have been known to improve your sleep quality, minor exercises like taking a walk or practising mindfulness can also help you with a relaxing bedtime routine.
Better Fetal Health
Yes, keeping your body active through light or moderately-intense exercises is known to have a direct positive impact on the baby inside your womb.
Women who exercised during their pregnancy indicated a decreased resting fetal heart. Babies with lower heart rates indicate that they have stronger, healthier hearts.
Healthy Body Posture
Maintaining a healthy body posture during your pregnancy might turn out to be more overwhelming than it seems. With carrying all the additional weight, backaches might seem never-ending.
Guess what again is to your rescue here?
Exercise doesn’t only give you a healthy grip over your thoughts but equally impacts your bodily mechanisms.
By boosting your energy levels, light exercise does wonder in relieving your back aches and leg pains.
From experiencing constipation in the initial days of your pregnancy to having swollen feet when your baby bump grows, exercise can help strengthen and tone your muscles.
Is Exercising During Pregnancy Risky?
With all the taboos associated with working out during pregnancy, it’s high time we depend on facts more than stereotypes.
If you and your baby are both healthy and do not have complications, exercising during pregnancy can be totally safe and even beneficial on various levels.
And do you know when you can start exercising to prepare your body for the baby? It’s before you conceive!
You can safely continue the level of exercise you maintained before getting pregnant. However, it’s always important to consult your healthcare professional before you start exercising during pregnancy.
Takeaway
Exercising during pregnancy has been linked with exceptional benefits when it comes to you and your baby’s health. Along with the positive physical impacts, staying active during your pregnancy can manage stress and help in elevating your mood.
Exercising for 3-7 days per week for 20 to 30 minutes is all what you need, mommies-to-be!
While exercising during pregnancy is beneficial, check out this blog to know how you can continue to exercise with a newborn at home.
