Pre-natal Exercise Benefits for Baby

Rest assured, you will not be the only one benefi ting from your exercise routine. Your baby will, of course, be benefiting too.

Dr. Clapp also studied the effects of prenatal exercise on babies and found that expectant mothers who exercise have “tougher” babies. The stresses of late pregnancy and labor do not produce as many warning signs in the babies of exercising mothers. They are also lighter and leaner, with no signs of growth retardation. “Exercising” babies have also shown that they respond better to
their environments after birth, and are more likely to develop a selfsoothing
instinct, perhaps hastening a baby’s ability to sleep through the night.

Pregnancy and motherhood are life-changing events that are filled with highs and lows, good days and bad days. By exercising during pregnancy, expectant women can
begin the new chapter in their lives with optimism and a sense of doing what is best for themselves and for their babies. With such an auspicious beginning, the best is yet to come!

Pre-natal Exercise Benefits for Mom

We all have known women who have complained about aches and pains they experienced during their pregnancies. Although pregnancy requires the female body to undergo
major physical changes, regular and sustained exercise is the secret to alleviating many of the discomforts and health conditions that accompany a pregnancy.

Women who exercise throughout the nine months are able to maintain and often improve their cardiovascular fi tness levels, as well as increase muscular strength and endurance. Balance, coordination and posture are problems for most pregnant women. However, women who exercise tend to experience these problems to a lesser degree than their non-exercising counterparts.

Maternal weight gain and fat accumulation is also reduced in exercising women. Studies conducted by Dr. James F. Clapp III, a leading authority on the effects of
exercise on pregnancy, have shown that pregnant women who exercise at least three hours per week over the duration of their pregnancies gain an average of eight pounds
less, and their body fat percentages increase three percent less than nonexercising
women. The end result is that, through exercise, women can maintain a leaner appearance while pregnant—a boost to most expectant mothers’ body image!

Pregnant women often complain of having problems with varicose veins, back pain, leg cramps, swelling, constipation, nausea,insomnia, anxiety, depression and incontinence. Imagine a pregnancy free of such discomforts! Exercise can help. In fact, exercising helps to reduce the incidence of pregnancy-induced hypertension and
gestational diabetes, too.

Women who continue regular weight-bearing exercise throughout their pregnancy tend to have easier,shorter and less complicated labors. Dr. Clapp’s studies have shown that exercising women have a 35 percent decrease in the need for pain relief during labor, a 55 percent decrease in the need for an episiotomy and a 50 percent decrease in the need to induce labor. Also, among women who have vaginal births, the length
of labor was shorter.

Exercising women also tend to have more positive attitudes, higher energy levels and lower incidences of colds and flu. Plus, most of these women are able to return to their prepregnancy weight within a year.

It is important to note that women are more likely to achieve the above benefits if they are able to continue their exercise program throughout the duration of their
pregnancy.