Physical activity during pregnancy

Sporty or not, many women love to keep fit even while pregnant. For an active, healthy woman, without any particular disorders and with a course of normal gestation, the specialist may recommend 30-40 minutes a day of low-intensity exercise.

In fact, a little physical activity during pregnancy is good for both mother and baby. The main thing is not to overdo it and follow the doctor’s advice.

One of the reasons why it is good to keep fit even during the sweet expectation is represented by the profound changes in the woman’s body that characterize this period and that can make the movements very tiring. In addition, excessive weight gain can also make the time of delivery more difficult. For this reason, it can be the gynecologist himself who recommends an appropriate physical activity, chosen and planned based on the health conditions of the future mother, the progress of the pregnancy and the clinical history of the patient and her family.

The benefits of being a fit mom

If the psyche is the first to benefit from even light physical activity, keeping fit from the first trimester of pregnancy allows you to better carry on gestation also from a physical point of view. Regular exercise reduces low back pain, improves posture and blood circulation in the legs, counteracting swelling, pain and cramps that characterize especially the last months of pregnancy.

But the greatest benefits are found at the level of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Due to the presence of the fetus, during pregnancy the amount of circulating blood and the volume of air breathed increase, so as to meet the needs of the fetus and placenta.

Exercise, by enhancing respiratory and cardiac capacity, allows the child to receive blood rich in oxygen and nutrients and to remove carbon dioxide more efficiently.

Keeping fit also allows you to contain weight gain and decreases the risk of incurring gestational diabetes, which carries the danger of possible complications for the newborn.

In addition, the benefits are also remarkable at the time of childbirth. Healthy heart and lungs allow you to better deal with this last phase, without forgetting that having a well-trained abdominal musculature facilitates the passage of the baby into the birth canal.

Even labor pains seem to decrease: in fact, regular physical activity during pregnancy stimulates the production of beta-endorphins, substances that increase the threshold of pain perception.

Back pain

Back pain is not a serious occurrence, but rather frequent among pregnant women. This is why it is useful to tone the muscles of the back to prepare it to support the changes that the body will undergo during the nine months, avoiding annoying pain.

In general, periodic training cycles are recommended against back pain that include exercises to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles and to work on the muscles of the abdomen and buttocks, as well as on the diaphragm. To obtain the maximum benefits it is good to be followed by an instructor, who will adapt the physical effort to the degree of athletic preparation of future mothers and will choose the most suitable type of exercise, as well as its intensity, as the weeks of gestation pass.

In addition, to reduce back pain it is good to sleep on one side, even better on the left. The belly up position, on the other hand, causes excessive pressure on the spine and the nerves that run through it, increasing the pain.

Physical activity gradually

It is important to distinguish between women who already before expecting a child practiced sports from those who have never done physical activity. If there are no contraindications from the gynecologist, the former can continue their physical activity, although obviously with lighter rhythms and avoiding risky situations.

For example, women who have always played tennis can continue to do so, avoiding excessive jerks or jumps because they can increase uterine contractility, just as those who have danced since childhood can still dance, because they know how to move and have already trained muscles . On the other hand, those who have always led a sedentary life should start moving regularly, for example by often going for a walk or swimming, but without engaging in too demanding sports activities.

All sports activities can be practiced during pregnancy, except those involving a high risk of falls, such as skiing, or body-to-body contact, such as martial arts. These activities could cause even very dangerous traumas to the abdomen, especially since the uterus, with the growth of the fetus, goes back towards the abdomen and is no longer protected by the pelvic bones.

Keep your pelvic muscles toned

The belly and pelvic floor muscles are put under increasing pressure as the baby gets older tags. It is therefore useful to strengthen the abdominal and pelvic muscles, for example with pilates which, not tiring the joints, is an excellent physical exercise for pregnant women.Among the recommended activities there are also Kegel exercises, which consist in contracting and relaxing the pubococcygeal muscles according to certain modalities and sequences, for example by interrupting the flow of urine during its expulsion. They are simple voluntary contractions of the pelvic muscles for the prevention and treatment of urinary incontinence, a disorder that appears quite frequently during the nine months or after childbirth.

Which gymnastics is more suitable

The goal of gymnastics is to keep the state of well-being as high as possible, while always guaranteeing maximum safety for both the pregnant woman and the fetus. It is therefore of fundamental importance to control the heart rate , keeping it 25-30% lower than the Aerobics fitness values .

An always valid exercise is simple walking, because it proves to be one of the best ways to increase blood flow, burn calories and avoid overweight and obesity tags. Furthermore, the appearance of swelling and varicose veins in the lower limbs is prevented, facilitating the venous return of blood to the heart. All of this also affects the beauty and health of the legs, the parts of the body that more than others tolerate weight gain and the growth of the belly.

In addition to walking, cycling, swimming and gentle gymnastics are also the most suitable physical activities for a pregnant woman. Even yoga and bodyweight dance can be practiced in complete tranquility.

However, the best choice is water gymnastics (swimming or water aerobics), which reduces the weight borne by the joints and improves heat dispersion : in fact, the body temperature must not exceed 38 degrees, while the mother’s heart rate does not must exceed 140 beats per minute .

However, the watchwords remain prudence and moderation tags. It is always a good idea to facilitate heat dispersion by playing sports in the coolest hours of the day and by drinking a lot to encourage perspiration. The calories expended in physical exercise must be correctly replenished with nutrition.

Furthermore, with the diet it is necessary to guarantee the unborn child all the substances essential for its growth. That’s why it’s important to follow a healthy and balanced diet throughout pregnancy (but especially during the first 12 weeks, the most important for the development of the fetus).

When it’s time to stop

Despite the innumerable advantages, it is not always appropriate to exercise during pregnancy, especially if there are threats of miscarriage or premature birth. In these cases, the doctor may even prescribe immobility to prevent any uterine contractions.

Furthermore, the effort and cardiovascular commitment that every sport entails add up to those that the body must already carry out during the sweet wait. Therefore, the increase in weight and the work required of the heart require greater caution during the last months of gestation: excessive efforts could limit the blood supply to the placenta and, therefore, nutrients to the baby or cause fetal hypothermia.

Contractions in the lower abdomen, hardening of the belly or out of breath while performing physical activity are all symptoms that indicate the need to stop and contact your doctor, reporting in detail the sensations experienced and the type of physical exercise that was taking place.

Furthermore, starting from the fourth month of pregnancy, it is advisable to avoid performing exercises in the supine position, which could limit the return of blood to the heart. From the eighth month, on the other hand, it would be better to prefer only breathing and relaxation exercises.