Exercise during Pregnancy
Of course you should check with your doctor, but many
studies have shown that exercise during
pregnancy is safe and beneficial. Some have concluded that women who exercise
vigorously during pregnancy give birth to smaller but otherwise
healthy babies, and one study showed that vigorous exercise
during pregnancy can help to prevent preterm birth. Ingrid
Christianson, a former world record holder, gave birth to a
healthy baby after wining the Houston Marathon when she was
five months pregnant.
It would be almost impossible for a pregnant women to
exercise so vigorously for the baby’s brain to be deprived of
oxygen. Excessively high body temperature is a theoretical
concerns; while infections can raise body temperature high
enough to damage the baby’s brain, I know of no reports of
exercise doing this. Lack of sufficient calories is a more
reasonable concern. If you are a heavy exerciser you must be
sure to eat adequate amounts of food to meet both your own
needs and those of your developing baby. You are supposed to
gain about twenty pounds, regardless of your weight before
pregnancy. No woman should use exercise or food restriction to
attempt weight loss while she is pregnant.
Checked 9/29/08