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Prenatal exercise and your health

April 15th, 2008 - dr. alan greene, dr. greene pregnancy, exercise during pregnancy, fitness, gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, pregnancy fitness

For most moms-to-be, working out has many health benefits. Here’s a look at the latest research on how exercise can improve your pregnancy.

by: Dr. Alan Greene

Prenatal Exercise

  • Exercise can help relieve many common pregnancy discomforts, including backache, swelling and constipation.
  • Studies show exercise reduces the risk of preeclampsia and gestational diabetes.
  • One study found pregnant women who did yoga daily were more likely to have an ideal weight baby, less likely to have preterm labor and less likely to develop hypertension than those who didn’t practice yoga.
  • You should talk to your health care provider before starting any pregnancy fitness program but, once you get the green light, aim for at least 30 minutes of physical activity most days of the week.

It may be tempting to take a nine-month sabbatical from the Stairmaster when you’re pregnant, but exercise during pregnancy has many important health benefits: it decreases the risk of urinary incontinence and can help reduce some of the common discomforts of pregnancy, including backache, swelling and constipation. A regular exercise program can also help ward off the baby blues and postpartum depression, while providing you with the endurance strength needed to help ease labor and delivery, as well as boosting the speed of your postnatal recovery. Here’s a look at some of the most recent research on the health benefits of prenatal exercise:


Exercise & Gestational Diabetes
One in eight women develop gestational diabetes during pregnancy, increasing the health risks for both mom and baby. Researchers at the University of Southern California School of Medicine studied a group of women who had developed gestational diabetes and needed insulin. Half of the women in the study received the recommended insulin, the other half hired personal trainers. The trainers supervised the women while they did basic 20-minute rides on an exercise bike–and discovered that moderate aerobic exercise was equally effective to taking insulin when it came to controlling gestational diabetes. Research shows that exercise helps keep blood sugar levels in check and exercising before you get pregnant may even help prevent gestational diabetes from occurring in the first place.

Exercise & Preeclampsia
Preeclampsia is a pregnancy complication in which blood pressure increases and blood flow to the baby decreases. The only effective treatment for preeclampsia is to deliver the baby, contributing to the growing epidemic of preterm deliveries. Regular brisk walking or other moderate physical activity done throughout pregnancy can significantly lower your risk of preeclampsia. (The benefit is even greater if the exercise is started prior to pregnancy.)

Yoga–the ideal prenatal workout?
Yoga is one of the oldest physical practices in existence. With its emphasis on harmony and balance, it is a beautiful way to train throughout pregnancy.
A study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine compared an hour of daily prenatal yoga to an hour of brisk daily walking in women with uncomplicated pregnancies. In this study, women who were randomly assigned to the yoga group were more likely to have an ideal-weight baby, less likely to have preterm labor, and less likely to develop hypertension compared to the women who walked daily.

Making the most of exercise during pregnancy
The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology recommends 30 minutes of moderate physical activity every day, or at least on most days. Use what you were doing before your pregnancy as a gauge–now is not the time to increase the intensity. Listen to your body and do what feels good. It’s also important to talk with your health care provider before embarking on any fitness plan. There are a few instances where women with complicated pregnancies should not exercise, or should only exercise in an extremely gentle way.


Meet our expert
Dr. Alan Greene is a graduate of Princeton University and the University of California San Francisco, Dr. Greene is the founder of www.drgreene.com. He is also the Chief Medical Officer of A.D.A.M., the Pediatric Expert for WebMD, the Chair Elect of The Organic Center and is on the Advisory Board of Healthy Child Healthy World. The author of Raising Baby Green, Dr. Greene has appeared on The Today Show, and been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Parents, and US Weekly. Dr. Greene is a practicing pediatrician at Stanford University's Packard Children's Hospital.