Physical Activity of a Pregnant Woman

Nowadays you won’t surprise anyone with a photograph of a pregnant woman in a tracksuit. Expectant mothers are strongly recommended to engage in sports, aerobics, and shaping. Special groups for pregnant women are created in swimming pools, sports complexes, and gyms. On the other hand, every pregnant woman is familiar with the state of languid fatigue, drowsiness, reluctance to move, when any physical exercise seems like a mockery. At the slightest indisposition of the expectant mother, the doctor immediately advises bed rest and limiting exercise. After 2 weeks of bed rest, it becomes scary to bend over or sit down again. So how to find the golden mean?

Pregnancy is not only about carrying an unborn child, but also about preparing for the upcoming birth, which is hard physical work. A woman’s body must be prepared for this work. What would you say about an athlete who, before an important competition, stopped training and went on vacation. Did you lie in a sun lounger all day on vacation? I think this behavior will cause serious confusion. What then can we say about a pregnant woman who is forced to limit her movements during most of her pregnancy? What kind of birth will she be ready for then? Only to operational ones, which is what happens in most cases.

Nature has made sure that maintaining sufficient physical shape does not require much effort from a pregnant woman. Thanks to endocrine changes in the body, a pregnant woman significantly increases the elasticity of all muscles and tendons, which contributes to their flexibility and endurance. If a woman's physical activity does not decrease during pregnancy, these adaptive changes can become a truly serious advantage during childbirth. Sufficient daily physical activity will help not only develop natural flexibility, but also increase muscle endurance, which is necessary for successful childbirth. Simple and easy breathing exercises and relaxation will help you stay in shape even for those who are temporarily contraindicated from any exercise.

Breathing exercises

Each physiological process has its own breathing rhythm. For example, when we are about to sleep, breathing calms down, becomes rarer and deeper, and when we are worried, or, for example, running, it becomes more frequent. In each case, the change in the rhythm and frequency of breathing occurs automatically. Childbirth, like any natural physiological process, at each stage has its own rhythm and breathing rate, which the body regulates independently.

The importance of proper breathing during childbirth cannot be overestimated. Firstly, the contracting muscles of the uterus require a lot of fuel for intense muscle work; it needs oxygen supply much more than in the normal state. During childbirth, the same thing happens to supply the muscles of the uterus with a sufficient amount of oxygen - the woman in labor begins to breathe deeper and more often.

In order for a woman’s body to be able to regulate the frequency and rhythm of breathing during childbirth without tension, training is necessary. By repeatedly and regularly doing breathing exercises, we expand the capabilities of our respiratory system, making different types and types of breathing familiar to it. This allows you to cope with the increased load at a decisive moment, which requires straining all the vital forces of the body, since it is no longer extreme, but habitual.

In addition to breathing exercises, singing, which is essentially breathing exercises, can expand the capabilities of the lungs.

Relaxation.

The ability to relax is a guarantee of the least painful birth. If a woman is able to relax of her own free will, then she has the right to expect an easy birth.

Skillful relaxation does not exclude the occurrence of pain and the appearance of a small number of painful contractions. However, relaxation must be perceived as a necessary condition for natural childbirth; the consciousness must be freed from active interest in the function of the uterus.

Relaxation of the mother's muscles is extremely