Pregnant? Exercise Helps Baby
I have a sweet niece, pregnant with her second child, and when I see her toddler doing “down-facing-Dog” I know that she is doing yoga through her second pregnancy. 🙂 She has always been fit – and Sporty.
From BBC Health News
Exercise during pregnancy can be good for the developing baby as well as for the mother, research suggests.
A team from the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences suggest it is linked to better foetal heart health and nervous system development.
The findings from their pilot study of 26 women are being presented to the American Physiological Society’s conference in New York.
A UK expert said pregnant women should discuss exercise levels with their GP.
The researchers wanted to see if maternal exercise had cardiovascular benefits for the foetus.
They also wanted to see if foetuses whose mothers exercised had increased breathing movements compared to non-exercise exposed foetuses.
Foetal breathing is a “practice” movement where a baby developing in the womb gets ready to breathe after it is born.
It is also a sign of how well the respiratory system and central nervous system are developing.
Moderate exercise
The scientists used a non-invasive device to measure the magnetic fields produced by the electrical activity of maternal and foetal heart rates.
It was also able to pick up foetal movements including breathing, body movements, hiccups and sucking.
The women studied were aged between 20 and 35 and were checked between the 36th and 38th weeks of pregnancy.
They were classed as exercisers if they did moderate intensity aerobic exercise such as moderate to vigorous walking, stationary bicycling and running for at least 30 minutes, three times per week. Most were doing more.
The researchers then compared them with pregnant women who did not exercise regularly.
Dr Linda May, who led the study, said: “Foetal breathing movement and the nervous system were more mature in babies exposed to exercise.”
She said further research was needed, both to look at more pregnancies and to evaluate the health of babies once they had been born.
But she said understanding more about how to improve the development babies’ nervous system could aid understanding of cot death.
“Some researchers think it has to do with something being wrong in the central nervous system, which affects respiration.
“Babies aren’t able to wake up and breath for themselves if they need to.”
She said this study had shown the babies of women who exercised had a more mature respiratory system, suggesting they would fare better after birth.
You can read the rest of the article HERE
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Whatever exercise a pregnant woman does , she should not repeat Not follow the exercise CDs made in Europe or the states because of the different physique of the Kuwaiti women due to excessive use of motorcars and non use of stairs or other physical daily practices .
The excersies in these video CD s will be comparatively violent and it may cause unnecessary complications. look for something suitable for you .
Daggero, you are right, in the article they say that over-exerting can hurt the baby. Yoga is good, walking is great, there are other exercises you can do in the water that won’t hurt you.