What can exercise be good for during pregnancy?
If you exercise regularly during pregnancy, you’re not just doing something for your well-being. PD Dr. Nina Kimmich is a senior obstetrician at Zurich University Hospital and specializes in pregnancy and sport. She says: “Regular exercise during pregnancy can stabilize blood sugar and minimize weight gain.” Both of these in turn lead to a lower risk of gestational diabetes.
Other positive effects can be:
- Lower risk of preeclampsia, also known as pregnancy poisoning
- Stabilization of the circulation
- Lower risk of high blood pressure
- Better management of pain (e.g. back pain)
- Less nausea during pregnancy
Training during pregnancy is also said to have positive effects on the psyche. “Women who train during pregnancy are less likely to experience depression – both during and after pregnancy,” says Marion Sulprizio, psychologist and member of the Sport and Pregnancy Working Group at the Cologne Sports University.
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Sport could also make childbirth easier. On average, the birth lasts shorter for athletic women, they need fewer painkillers and they are less likely to need aids such as cesarean sections, suction cups or forceps. Sulprizio explains: “Women who exercise regularly often feel better about their bodies.” For example, those who have done yoga or Pilates to prepare for birth usually know breathing techniques that could help during birth.
After the birth, training can also pay off – and not just for the psychological reasons already mentioned. Because, says Sulprizio: “The recovery is usually easier if you have already exercised during pregnancy.”
For which women is exercise suitable during pregnancy?
Both experts generally recommend regular exercise for all women during pregnancy. “Fortunately, the trend is moving away from the recommendation that all pregnant women should take it easy and more towards encouraging women and motivating them to do something good for themselves by exercising during pregnancy,” says Sulprizio.
Nevertheless, the sports expert recommends speaking to the gynecologist at the beginning of your pregnancy and checking together again and again to see whether regular exercise and, above all, the type of training is good for mother and child. This is particularly worthwhile if women do very intensive sports.
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Which pregnant women should be particularly careful when exercising?
If certain complications occur during pregnancy, the pregnant woman may have to adjust her training or stop it completely.
In medicine we then speak of contraindications. Doctors differentiate between absolute and relative contraindications. Absolute contraindications mean that this is guaranteed to cause more harm than good to the patient. Relative contraindications depend on the individual situation and should be discussed with your doctor.
Absolute contraindications
- Premature rupture of membranes
- Premature labor (before 37 weeks of pregnancy)
- Hypertensive diseases of pregnancy (i.e. high blood pressure including preeclampsia)
- Zervixinsuffzienz
- Lying cerclage (sling around the cervix to support the cervix) or pessary (rubber ring around the cervix to stabilize it)
- Delayed growth of the unborn child
- Reduced fetal movements
- Multiple pregnancies from the 16th to 20th week of pregnancy (SWE)
- Placenta previa (from the 22nd week of pregnancy – the placenta lies above the cervix)
- Vaginal bleeding
- Oligohydramnios (too little amniotic fluid)
- After invasive procedures/surgery on the uterus/fetus during pregnancy
Relative contraindications
In previous pregnancies…
- Premature births
- premature rupture of membranes
- Zervixinsuffzienz
- premature labor
- delayed growth of the unborn child
- repeated miscarriages
Generally
- IVF-induced pregnancy
- Uterine malformations
- Eating disorders, malnutrition
- Taking anticoagulants
- The first 48 hours after a chorionic villus sampling/amniocentesis (uterine placental biopsy or amniocentesis to determine genetic abnormalities in the fetus)
- Polyhydramnios (risk of contractions)
The specialist also advises women to listen to themselves and their bodies. “If you no longer feel physically capable of doing sport as a pregnant woman, you should not do it,” she recommends.
Especially if there are doubts, Sulprizio recommends that it is better to see a doctor once too often than once too little. “If doubts arise during pregnancy, you should take a closer look.” In addition, pregnant women should plan their sports sessions sensibly and, for example, not exceed certain times in order to avoid overexertion, she advises.
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Which sports are particularly suitable for pregnant women?
In particular, women who did little or only light exercise before their pregnancy should, according to Dr. Kimmich resort to gentle sports. Yoga, Pilates, swimming, walking, cycling on flat surfaces or even the home trainer would be ideal here.
“Sports with pelvic floor training such as yoga and Pilates are particularly useful. Exercises with your own body weight are also highly recommended,” says Kimmich.
And although – or precisely because – you read again and again during pregnancy that you shouldn’t strain your abdominal muscles, Sulprizio advises: “This only applies to isolated training of the rectus abdominal muscles.” The reason: the baby should have enough space, it’s possible only if the stomach can bulge forward and the muscles can diverge. Excessive abdominal muscles could prevent this. However, training the lateral and oblique abdominal muscles is beneficial. For example, says Sulprizio, so that diastasis recti (the gap between the abdominal muscles that occurs during pregnancy) can resolve more quickly after birth.
Which sports are taboo for pregnant women?
If there are no contraindications, many sports are generally still permitted during pregnancy. However, according to Dr. Kimmich the so-called contact sports such as martial arts or volleyball and handball. “You should no longer hike higher than 2,500 meters, and bottle diving is also taboo,” says the doctor.
However, Sulprizio adds that you usually don’t have to give up your favorite sport completely. “Anyone who has previously practiced martial arts can still complete many elements of the training, just, for example, they should no longer go into duels,” says the expert. And passionate mountain bikers should perhaps no longer ride through the forest over slippery roots, but instead choose more even routes with less risk of falling – or complete their sessions on the home trainer.
She believes that the psychological aspect plays a major role in motivation. Sulprizio: “You should do the sport that you enjoy the most. If I don’t feel like doing what I’m doing, it’s less beneficial to my health than if I identify with it.”
How much exercise per day is ideal?
There are different recommendations here. Both in terms of training duration and load.
According to Sulprizio, a recommendation for healthy pregnant women is to exercise at least 150 minutes a week. According to the expert, 30 to 60 minutes a day is ideal. “But you should make sure that you don’t exceed a total of seven hours per week,” says Sulprizio.
For example, if you go on a three-hour bike ride at the weekend, you should make your training sessions shorter during the week. Here she refers to one Danish studyin which training longer than seven hours per week led to higher miscarriage rates, especially in early pregnancy.
As far as stress is concerned, Dr. Kimmich “moderate stress”. A rough guideline here is that 20 to 30 year old pregnant women should not have a pulse rate of 155 to 160, while 30 to 40 year olds should stick to a pulse rate between a maximum of 140 and 156.
It is also important for pregnant women not to overheat. On the one hand, by sticking to the exercise guidelines and on the other hand, for example, by not going jogging in the midday heat in summer.
Are there different recommendations for the three trimesters?
Sulprizio advises that it is important not to overwork yourself, especially in the first few weeks of pregnancy. “During the sensitive phase of implantation, you should avoid strenuous sports and instead resort to gentle training,” she says.
From the 18th week onwards is a good phase to do sport to your heart’s content – as long as there are no contraindications, you stick to the recommendations and you feel good with the exercise.
