The benefits of exercise during Pregnancy

Exercising has enormous benefits for most people including increased physical fitness/strength, elevated mood, decreased muscular pain and improved circulation. When pregnant women exercise, there is a whole host of benefits for both mom and baby.

Here are the maternal benefits of exercise during pregnancy:

1 - Increased aerobic fitness. Aerobic fitness is your body’s ability to use oxygen efficiently to help you exercise. Increased aerobic fitness means that the exercising mom is fitter and better able to handle physical exertion.

2 - Promotes proper fat distribution and weight gain. Pregnant mothers gain weight and distribute weight for the fetus’ utilization. Exercise can help promote healthy weight gain and adequate distribution of body fat.

3 - An easier labour. Not that labour is easy in any way, but exercising and working out can increase your strength and endurance and help in facilitating a smooth delivery.

4 - Prevents the onset of Gestational Diabetes. One thing that you don’t want to deal with is gestational diabetes. GD is a type of diabetes that only pregnant women develop as a result of poor diet and lack of exercise. This can cause significant complications for mom and baby, including increasing the risk of your baby being born with Type 2 Diabetes.

5 - Improves circulation and prevents varicose veins. During pregnancy, the increased weight and stress can cause changes in blood circulation and the veins ability to pump blood. Exercise causes the muscles to assist in the blood pumping, taking pressure off the veins and improving circulation in the process.

6 - Improving posture and core strength. As the pregnant body changes and the belly grows, mom’s centre of gravity shifts forward with the ever protruding belly. Strengthening back muscles and improving core strength can offset some of that discomfort and back pain you may be feeling.

7 - Improve postpartum recovery. Exercise releases endorphins that make you feel good and exercise can help in both physical and mental recovery after labour. It can elevate your mood to help fight those postpartum blues.

8 - The fetus can also benefit from the exercises that mom does. These benefits can include decreased fetal stress during labour and improved coping mechanism to changes in blood flow for the baby.

Exercising can help both mom and baby in numerous ways and can ease both delivery and recovery.

Taking care of your body during pregnancy is essential. Aches and pains are inevitable with a changing body, but it doesn’t have to be debilitating. Let the Pre and Post Natal Fitness Specialist at Movability help you feel better.

Give us a call today to book your appointment!