It happens when your body has too much sugar called glucose in the blood. Preeclampsia is a type of high blood pressure some women get after the 20th week of pregnancy or after giving birth. These conditions can increase your risk of having complications during pregnancy, such as premature birth birth before 37 weeks of pregnancy. Help reduce your risk of having a cesarean birth also called c-section. Cesarean birth is surgery in which your baby is born through a cut that your doctor makes in your belly and uterus.
Prepare your body for labor and birth. Activities such as prenatal yoga and Pilates can help you practice breathing, meditation and other calming methods that may help you manage labor pain. Regular exercise can help give you energy and strength to get through labor. What kinds of activities are safe during pregnancy?
These activities usually are safe during pregnancy: Walking. Swimming and water workouts. The water supports the weight of your growing baby and moving against the water helps keep your heart rate up.
If you have low back pain when you do other activities, try swimming. Riding a stationary bike. This is safer than riding a regular bicycle during pregnancy. Yoga and Pilates classes. The instructor can help you modify or avoid poses that may be unsafe for pregnant women, such as lying on your belly or flat on your back after the first trimester.
Some gyms and community centers offer prenatal yoga and Pilates classes just for pregnant women. Low-impact aerobics classes. During low-impact aerobics, you always have one foot on the ground or equipment. Examples of low-impact aerobics include walking, riding a stationary bike and using an elliptical machine.
During high-impact aerobics, both feet leave the ground at the same time. Examples include running, jumping rope and doing jumping jacks. Strength training. Strength training can help you build muscle and make your bones strong.
Ask your provider about how much you can lift. Is physical activity safe for all pregnant women? The following conditions may make it unsafe to exercise during pregnancy: Preterm labor , bleeding from the vagina , or your water breaking also called ruptured membranes.
Preterm labor is labor that happens before 37 weeks of pregnancy. Bleeding from the vagina and having your water break may be signs of preterm labor. Being pregnant with twins, triplets or more also called multiples with other risk factors for preterm labor.
Your provider may ask you not to do intense or high-impact activities, such as running. You may be able to do low-impact activities, like walking, prenatal yoga or swimming. Cervical insufficiency or a cerclage. The cervix is the opening to the uterus womb and is at the top of the vagina. Cervical insufficiency also called incompetent cervix means your cervix opens dilates too early during pregnancy, usually without pain or contractions.
Cervical insufficiency can cause premature birth and miscarriage. If you have cervical insufficiency or a short cervix, your provider may recommend cerclage. This is a stitch your provider puts in your cervix to help keep it closed so that your baby isn't born too early. A short cervix means the length of your cervix also called cervical length is shorter than normal. Gestational hypertension or preeclampsia.
This measures how hard you feel perceive your body is working. Your blood pressure drops in the second trimester, so it is important to avoid rapid changes of position — from lying to standing and vice versa — so as not to experience dizzy spells.
Exercise suggestions during pregnancy Pre-exercise screening is used to identify people with medical conditions that may put them at a higher risk of experiencing a health problem during physical activity.
If you have been cleared to exercise, and you participated in physical activity before you were pregnant, it is recommended that you: Do at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity on most, if not all, days of the week. Let your body be your guide. If you are healthy and you are not experiencing complications in your pregnancy, continue this level of activity throughout pregnancy, or until it becomes uncomfortable for you to do so.
Be guided by your doctor, physiotherapist or healthcare professional. If you have been cleared to exercise, but you were inactive before your pregnancy: Start with low-intensity exercises such as walking or swimming, and build up to moderate intensity activity. Aim to do at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity on most, if not all, days of the week. You can start with separate sessions of 15 minutes each, and build up to longer durations.
Suggested exercise activities during pregnancy Activities that are generally safe during pregnancy, even for beginners, include: walking swimming cycling — outdoors or on a stationary bicycle jogging muscle strengthening exercises, including pelvic floor exercises exercise in water aquarobics yoga, stretching and other floor exercises Pilates pregnancy exercise classes.
Cautions for pregnancy exercise While most forms of exercise are safe, there are some exercises that involve positions and movements that may be uncomfortable or harmful for pregnant women.
Reduce your level of exercise on hot or humid days. Stay well hydrated. Don't exercise to the point of exhaustion. If weight training, choose low weights and medium to high repetitions — avoid lifting heavy weights altogether.
Perform controlled stretching and avoid over-extending. Avoid exercise if you are ill or feverish. It is important to listen to your body to avoid unnecessarily depleting your energy reserves. In addition, if you develop an illness or a complication of pregnancy, talk with your doctor or midwife before continuing or restarting your exercise program. Exercises to avoid while pregnant During pregnancy, avoid sports and activities with increased risk of, or characterised by: abdominal trauma or pressure — such as weightlifting contact or collision— such as martial arts, soccer, basketball and other competition sports hard projectile objects or striking implements — such as hockey, cricket or softball falling — such as downhill skiing, horse riding and skating extreme balance, co-ordination and agility — such as gymnastics significant changes in pressure — such as SCUBA diving heavy lifting high-altitude training at over m supine exercise position lying on your back — the weight of the baby can slow the return of blood to the heart; some of these exercises can be modified by lying on your side wide squats or lunges.
Pelvic floor exercises and pregnancy Your pelvic floor muscles are weakened during pregnancy and during birth vaginal delivery , so it is extremely important to begin conditioning the pelvic floor muscles from the start of your pregnancy. Use light weights with multiple repetitions instead. A pregnancy-appropriate Pilates routine focuses mainly on strengthening your core and lengthening your muscles with low- to no-impact, which will help ease backaches and improve your posture as well as your flexibility and that all comes in handy during labor.
Barre classes — a mix of Pilates, yoga and ballet-inspired moves — are excellent for expecting women because they involve strengthening your lower body and core without much jumping. They also involve balance exercises, which help keep you stable as your baby bump throws off your balance. Prenatal yoga is another ideal workout for moms-to-be: It encourages relaxation, flexibility, focus and deep breathing — all great preparation for giving birth. Avoid Bikram hot yoga, since you need to pass on exercises that heat you up too much.
This ancient form of meditation involves slow movements that allow even the least flexible to strengthen their bodies without risk of injury. Just look for pregnancy-specific classes or stick to exercises you know well, and be extra cautious with those involving balance.
Ready to hit the gym? While exercise during pregnancy is generally very safe, there are a few precautions you'll want to follow to work out safely during pregnancy. Follow these tips:. New to exercise? Start slowly. Start with 20 minutes, including warm-up and cool-down, and build to 30 or more, if you feel comfortable. Already a gym rat? Save the PRs for after you deliver. Stay cool.
If temperatures soar, keep your workouts inside. And always stay in an air-conditioned environment for prolonged workout sessions. Warm up and cool down. Since stopping abruptly traps blood in the muscles and reduces blood supply to other parts of your body including your baby , finish with a few minutes of walking and a few minutes of relaxation before taking on the rest of your day. Listen to your body. And you should feel energized, not drained, after you finish.
Know when something is wrong. Prenatal yoga classes can help women keep their joints limber and maintain flexibility. Yoga may also help with pain and stress management, according to one study. When lying flat on the back, the weight of the bump can put pressure on major veins and arteries and decrease blood flow to the heart.
This reduced blood flow can lead to faintness. Some classes are designed especially for pregnant women. They can be a good way to meet other people and train with an instructor who is qualified to meet the specific needs of pregnant women. Women who already attend a regular aerobics class should let the instructor know that they are pregnant. The instructor can then modify exercises where necessary and advise about suitable movements.
Some exercises are particularly useful during pregnancy, as they prepare the body for labor and delivery. Squatting: As squatting may help open the pelvis during labor, it may be a good idea to practice during pregnancy.
Pelvic tilts: These can strengthen the abdominal muscles and help reduce back pain. Kegel exercises: These tone the muscles in the pelvic floor. Strong pelvic muscles will help the woman push during delivery and reduce the risk of urine leakage afterward.
Learn how to do Kegel exercises in our dedicated article. Research suggests that there may also be benefits for the baby, such as:.
Physical changes during pregnancy place extra demands on the body, so it is important to exercise with care. Women who were active before pregnancy and healthy during it can often continue as before, adjusting their program as the pregnancy progresses.
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