Exercise for Pregnant & Postpartum
We have come a long way from the days when women were told by their doctors to rest and not engage in too much physical activity. Today, most Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommend that women with low-risk pregnancy participate in a moderate 30-minute physical activity in most, if not all days of the week.
When participating in physical activity, the main and most important thing to remember is to never compromise losing your balance and put yourself at risk for a fall. Although you may have engaged in physical activity that required good balance prior to pregnancy, remember that the extra baby weight puts you at a disadvantage for such activities and thus should be placed on hold. Also, you shouldn’t position your body in the supine position (a position in which you are lying down face-up) after the first trimester. When pregnant and 4–6 weeks postpartum it’s important to recognize physiological changes of your body such as an increased heart rate and increased heat dissipation. You should also remember to keep yourselves hydrated at all times.
So what are the benefits of exercising?
In general women that exercise have less obstetric interventions and may even benefit from a shorter labor period. For women with gestational diabetes, exercise will help improve their blood sugar levels.
Like most people, while exercising you will have increased energy, sleep better, and control your weight. Weight control is definitely a concern if you become pregnant while overweight or obese. Women who are overweight or obese are not recommended to gain as much weight as a person that has a healthy weight. There should be no more weight gain of 15-25lbs for the overweight and 11-20lbs for the obese women compared to a weight gain of 25-30lbs for a woman of normal weight. Being of a healthy weight before becoming pregnant will have its advantages of not having the stress of a strict calorie count because of the extra wiggle room afforded to you.
If you just became pregnant and would like the benefits of having a more pleasant pregnancy with exercise it’s recommended that you start at the second trimester. This is mainly because the hormonal changes in the first trimester can cause nausea and morning sickness. When selecting an exercise, pick those that don’t put you at risk to lose your balance and prevent fetal trauma. Recommended exercises are: walking, aquatic, yoga and kegel exercises. Avoid exercises such as: horseback riding, gymnastics, bicycling, hot yoga, scuba diving and inverted positions. For women athletes, it’s important not to push you intensity of exercising over 80% of your aerobic power. Two parameters to monitor while exercising is your heart rate and exertion intensity. For monitoring exertion intensity you can follow the simple “talk test” (the talk test is when you are able to have a conversation while exercising and not be completely winded or out of breath).
Usually 6 weeks after labor you are given the ok to resume your exercise regimen. It’s important to start/resume as soon as possible to lose the pregnancy weight and avoid being at risk statistically for having health complications associated with obesity. Excessive weight-gain during pregnancy is associated with high weight-retention after pregnancy. As a new mom, having social support is important for you to have success when reinitiating/initiating exercise activities. Exercise will definitely give you positive physical and psychological benefits after pregnancy.
References:
- Wolfe LA and Davies G. Canadian guidelines for exercise in pregnancy. Clin Obstet Gynecol 46: 488–495, 2003.
- American College of Sports Medicine. ACSM’s Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription (7th ed). Baltimore, MD: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2006. pp. 230–232.
- Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council. Weight Gain During Pregnancy: Reexamining the Guidelines. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2009.
- Larsson L and Lindqvist PG. Low impact exercise during pregnancy—A study of safety. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand 84: 34–38, 2005.
- Pivarnik JM, Chambliss HO, Clapp JF, Dugan SA, Hatch MC, Lovelady CA, Mottola M, and Williams M. Impact of physical activity during pregnancy and postpartum on chronic disease risk. Med Sci Sports Exerc 38: 989–1006, 2006.