RESEARCH
The American Canadian and British board of obstetricians and gynaecologists (that is the board of all the consultant doctors who look after pregnant and recently pregnant ladies and lady parts) all recommend exercise in pregnancy. They do put an exclusion in for downhill skiing and some contact sports, but basically the experts say it is very important.
The research base for not exercising when pregnant has very little substance.
In fact there is a growing body of research demonstrating how not exercising can be detrimental to the ladies who are pregnant and their children. But even as this evidence grows the majority of ladies who are pregnant feel that the advice it to slow down.
The Victorian ideal that pregnant ladies should stay in doors laid up and out of everyone else’s way, not out and about keeping fit and getting on with life persists in our society. WHY?
The research detailing the benefits of exercising when pregnant is extensive surprising in places and overwhelmingly compelling
Aquanatal is specifically sooooooo good in pregnancy because you cannot get overheated and because the blood pressure is reduced in water so cannot climb as it does on land. Plus because buoyancy holds some of your weight you feel light your joints are protected your baby is cushioned in water (as nature planned ) whilst using the resistance that the water affords to work your core, tone your muscles and generally make you more fabulous!
THE BENEFITS
In brief:
- Studies show that women who exercise during pregnancy are likely to have a shorter labour and return to their pre-pregnancy weight much faster than women who don’t.
- There is evidence that exercise during pregnancy has very positive effects such as preventing onset of maternal diabetes and improving the mood and social networks of the mum (pre and post delivery).
- There is also good evidence that a mother continuing to exercise keeping on the habit of exercise through pregnancy is more likely to have fitter children. Those that stop are more likely to get out of the habit and that does affect the children. Losing the habit of exercise in this period of life research shows that the offspring of a sedentary parent are less likely to be fit.
- Exercise is good for you! That is not rocket science it is common sense and good parenting.
- Whilst pregnant though you can work on toning muscles; some in particular. Just consider that for a large period of each day you will be carrying loving and cuddling a lovely son or daughter who will be a seven-pound weight that will increase in weight week by week. Added to this you may have some serious paraphernalia to cart about, added to that your back muscles and abdominal muscles that support your spine and pelvic floor will just have been stretched completely out of shape and will struggle to manage the increasing load without some attention. You need to stay in shape and become toned to prevent injury.
It is so easy to prevent depression, to support your back, to keep your figure,to maintain your pelvic floor and continence, and even to have children who aspire to be fit: just exercise! Don’t lose the habit of doing a bit even just a little bit.
In the classes I will work with you on all the elements you need for now and try to teach why we do certain activities and how to do them well so that long past your time with me, when you take your own children swimming, you can use what you have learnt to maintain your body independently
Mary’s bees in her bonnet!
Everywhere I go I see parents encouraging their children to keep fit: they drive them to swimming lessons, watch and clap from the side, then drive them to gymnastics, sit and watch and praise them. The thing is that for a child there are two heros in the world that they wish to emulate more than any of the cartoon heros that they will view: and that is their mum and dad. If they see you sitting then sitting is what they will aspire to do, to be like you. My aim is that parents would see that an attitude of come on follow me is far more effective in getting the children fit. ”Ah well, this seems like something for a long way down the line,” you may say, but the rot begins as soon as people find out they are pregnant in this western world they are bombarded with the message that they should slow down relax, sit . There is no reason for this borne out in research it is just a myth; a Victorian idea perpetuated.
And so we begin parenthood by sitting a lot (this position increases the potential for baby’s to turn more breech or back to back) Then nine months later we have the biggest work out of our lives. Labour is called labour for a reason people talk about pain control a lot but that is a very TV labour thing, speaking to real women the words they use more than anything are exhausted, tired, worn out. It is a work out, an exercise class that you have to be prepared for and it comes at a time when most ladies are ill-equipped because they were just told to keep still for nine months!
I come to this knowing that I did this incorrectly in so many ways. I am not a know it all but I have learned from my very own mistakes researched and I wish to do things better and empower women and families to make a good go at healthy living because where is the fun in watching your children play and not being able to join in.
Then unfit and not exercising how to get back into exercise. Well pelvic floor leakage stops some people from ever getting back to impact exercise and yet it is easily sortable just no one talks about it. Some people become depressed postnatally; well, guess what, some of the things they become depressed about – loss of control of your body, not feeling the right shape -are solvable by, you’ve guess it, exercise! And even if those are not the issues then exercise produced the same chemicals in the brain that protect against depression; not in tablet form but naturally and without side effects.
