Exercising While Pregnant

Exercising While Pregnant

One of the most common questions anticipating mothers ask is, ‘Is it safe for me to exercise while I’m pregnant?’ The simplest answer to that is a BIG YES.

Without a doubt, exercising while pregnant is essential because it prevents you from incurring circulatory stasis, lowers your cholesterol level and decreases your risk of getting heart diseases. It also increases your energy level, maintains a healthy body weight, and boosts your self-esteem.

Just know your boundaries though! Overdoing exercises while pregnant has been linked to lower birth rate and other pregnancy complications.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists urges average, well-nourished pregnant mothers to exercise daily for 30 consecutive minutes. They encourage an exercise program that consists of 5-minute warm-up exercises, an active phase of 20 minutes and then 5 minutes of those cool-down exercises.

The activities included in the program depend on your interests. But exercises that involve moving large muscle groups rhythmically are the best. Take for instance, walking. According to obstetricians and gynaecologists, this is the best form of exercise when you’re having a baby. Unless the weather is inclement, there are too many flights of stairs, or the neighbourhood is unsafe, take a walk everyday and get those legs working!

Exercising While Pregnant First Trimester

The first trimester is the most crucial time in your pregnancy. This is the point when organogenesis, or the formation of the major body organs of your baby, begins and ends. Your baby may only be about 5 inches in length and weighs a little less than 1 ounce, but all of its major functions are already formed.

It is also around these months that you feel anxious because of the overwhelming fears, anxieties and expectations with the reality of finally having a baby.

Due to such taxing physiological and emotional changes, exercising for 3 to 4 times in a week is necessity during the first three months of pregnancy. It helps in reducing stress, fighting off fatigue and stabilizing your erratic emotions.

Exercising While Pregnant With Twins

Carrying two babies is already a huge work-out in itself! So, when you’re looking into exercising while pregnant with twins, you must remember to avoid those rigorous exercises that would put too much pressure on your cervix and lower extremities.

You may give swimming, prenatal yoga, walking, stretching or recumbent bicycle riding a try. And of course, do not forget those no-sweat Kevel’s exercises that can do wonders to the strength of your pelvic floor!

Also try gentler exercises that would not shoot up your temperature too much. Epidemiologic studies found out that any activity that causes an elevation of 2 degrees Celsius on your temperature for at least 24 hours could cause developmental defects on your baby.

Heart Rate Matters While Exercising During Pregnancy

Again, before you start exercising, make sure that you have checked with your doctor or midwife already. This is because the intensity of your prenatal exercises depends on your cardiopulmonary fitness, and no one else knows better how to calculate this than your health care provider.

Basically, you must exercise at 70% to 85% of your maximum heart rate. The simplest way to compute this is to subtract your age from 220 then multiply it to 75% or 80%. For instance, if you are 23 years old, you should have a pulse range of 129 to 157 beats per minute right after exercising.

You can also assess quickly if you are exercising too much by evaluating your ability to continue talking while exercising. If you are too short of breath to do this, you are exercising way beyond your target heart rate.