How much physical activity is recommended during pregnancy?
Physical exercise during pregnancy generates a series of benefits for both the mother and the unborn baby. It is something that specialists have been clear for a long time, despite which, however, two out of three women do not carry out the recommended activity (nor did they do it before pregnancy) and one in five does not practice any type of physical activity in his free time, as verified a few years ago by a study carried out by scientists from the University of Granada .
In any case, what type of activity is recommended for a pregnant woman, and in what quantity? In general, the advice indicates that you should do light or moderate exercises regularly. The most recommended activities are walks in the open air (with appropriate footwear), swimming, yoga, dance, exercise bike and relaxation exercises combined with breathing, which are part of the preparation for childbirth.
Another highly recommended activity are the so-called Kegel exercises , which allow the pelvic floor to be strengthened, which weakens due to pregnancy and childbirth. These exercises are very simple: they consist of contracting the muscles of the perineum for a few seconds, as if you wanted to interrupt urination, and then relax them. It is advisable to do them several times a day, since they do not require any special preparation and can be carried out anytime, anywhere.
Sports contraindicated in pregnancy
There are, on the other hand, activities contraindicated during pregnancy: athletics, skiing, horseback riding, martial arts, step, and in general any violent sport , risky or that could cause trauma to the fetus (American football, basketball, tennis, skating , fencing, paragliding, climbing, diving, etc.). Disciplines such as horse riding and cycling involve significant strain on the pelvis and therefore can harm the future baby. For this reason, and also to eliminate the risk of falls, the moderate practice of the static bicycle is suggested.
The pregnant woman should also avoid "abrupt or highly glycolytic exertion" exercises, which are those that take the pulsations above 140 per minute , since they "negatively affect the oxygen supply to the fetus" and can, for hence, harm it. Among those activities are bodybuilding, athletics and, in general, sports competition. This is explained in a document on the prescription of physical exercise during pregnancy , prepared by experts from the University of Córdoba.
"Efforts involving an increase in temperature should be avoided," adds a Guide for the prevention of birth defects , edited by the Ministry of Health . And he adds that "a good state of hydration must be maintained at all times, which is ensured with the intake of liquids".
How much exercise can you do?
As for the amount of exercise, it is difficult to speak of figures and concrete data, since it depends on the physical state of each person and the activities they carried out prior to pregnancy. That is why we speak of "light or moderate" exercises. For a woman who has done little or no physical activity, pregnancy is a good time to start, but in a light way. On the other hand, one who already practiced sports "should listen to her body, lower the intensity and take care to make sudden movements", as explained by experts from the association El Parto es Nuestro .
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, a body considered a benchmark in the field, promotes the same duration and frequency of physical activity for pregnant women as for the rest of the healthy population: half an hour of moderate activity between three and five days a week. "This level of physical activity presents little risk for maternal-fetal health," points out the aforementioned work by the Cordovan researchers.
Not only are there no risks: there are benefits. The last one that has been discovered is that the regular practice of physical exercises during pregnancy makes it possible to shorten the total duration of labor by almost an hour . That was the conclusion of a study carried out by specialists from the Polytechnic University of Madrid and published earlier this month in the specialized journal European Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology and Reprod .
The study analyzed more than 500 deliveries and found that women who had carried out exercises during pregnancy took, on average, 57 minutes less than the "sedentary" ones (450 minutes in the first group, 507 in the second). Delivery duration is "a key parameter for maternal and newborn well-being," said Rubén Barakat Carballo, director of the research, since prolonged deliveries often lead to complications.
However, it should be borne in mind that these results were obtained from a program of aerobic and moderate exercises, led by a professional, and it cannot be assumed that the same will occur with different activities. In the case of this research, the exercises were divided into seven phases : warm-up, aerobic gymnastics, muscle strengthening, coordination and balance, strengthening of the pelvic floor, flexibility and relaxation, and a final conversation about the sensations that pregnancy produces.
Other benefits of physical exercise during pregnancy
Many studies have verified a long list of other benefits of physical activity during pregnancy: from the possibility of controlling weight gain and maintaining an optimal posture to reducing the discomfort of pregnancy , such as back disorders, constipation and varicose veins, and promote an improvement in mood and a less tired feeling. On the other hand, staying active during pregnancy also helps a woman regain her physical state more quickly after delivery.
And the baby also benefits from his mom's gymnastics . The heart rate of the fetus is reduced when the woman exercises, which is a healthy signal, according to research by scientists at the University of Kansas in the United States. For their part, Canadian researchers determined that the creature's brain also receives "gains" from its mother's training.
Between 8 and 12 days after birth, babies of women who had performed at the least 20 minutes of moderate exercise three days a week you Nian a more mature brain response than those of women who had not practiced that activity.