Pregnancy & Prenatal Care
Exercise can help ease muscular aches and pains and other discomforts women sometimes experience during their pregnancies. Yoga, walking, swimming, and other forms of low-impact or stretching exercises are best.
Follow your health care provider’s advice for exercising during your pregnancy. General guidelines for exercising during pregnancy follow:
* You can usually do the same forms of exercise you did before your pregnancy, but don’t go to extremes.
* Check your pulse when you exercise. In general, your heart rate should stay below 140 beats a minute.
* Avoid any sport or activity with the risk of a hard fall, such as horseback riding and water skiing.
* Don’t do exercises that involve jumping, twisting, or bouncy motions.
* Don’t become overheated. Drink water before, during, and after you exercise. Make sure you get an extra 4 to 8 ounces of water for every 15 minutes of active exercise. Drink more fluids in warm weather or if you sweat a lot.
* After the 20th week of pregnancy, avoid exercises in which you lie flat on your back.
© American Institute for Preventive Medicine