Physical exercise: Pregnant women (VI)

There are many risks during pregnancy, and one of them is the obesity. It's related to problems of premature birth, hypertension and gestational diabetes (Callaway & col., 2006; Doherty & col., 2006). Thus, there are also risks to the  baby like perinatal death, congenital anomalies, birth injury and macrosomia (Callaway & col., 2006; Doherty & col., 2006; Martínez-Frías & col., 2005; Henriksen, 2006).

So, as I said in the previous posts of this aim performing prescribed physical exercise it's really important for pregnant and newborn's health.

Picture 1: Gestational obesity

It's proved that the pregnant women that have been performing prescribed aerobic physical exercise during the whole  pregnancy have less body weight than others pregnant women that haven't performed it (Kramer, 2002). In this way, we can reduce the percentage of suffering hypertension, sickness, leg cramps,stomach ache, etc. (Morris y Johnson, 2005).

As conclusion, it's really important to take control of the body weight during pregnancy so that we can reduce unnecessary risks.

For any question, don't hesitate asking us. We will be glad to help you out with any doubt you have.


Thanks for reading

Callaway, L.K., Prins, J.B., Chang, A.M. y McIntyre, H.D. (2006). The prevalence and impact of overweight and obesity in an Australian obstetric population. Medical Journal of Australia, 184 (2), 56–59.

Doherty, D.A., Magann, E.F., Francis, J., Morrison, J.C. y Newnham, J.P. (2006). Pre pregnancy body mass index and pregnancy outcomes. International Journal of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, 95 (3),242–247.

Henriksen, T. (2006). Nutrition and pregnancy outcome. Nutrition Review, 64(5), 19–23.

Kramer, M.S. (2002). Aerobic exercise for women during pregnancy. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2, CD000180.

Martínez-Frias, M.L., Frias, J.P., Bermejo, E., Rodriguez-Pinilla, E., Prieto, L. y Frias, J.L. (2005). Pre-gestational maternal body mass index predicts an increased risk of congenital malformations in infants of mothers with gestational diabetes. Diabetic Medicine, 22 (6), 775–781.

Morris, S.N. y Johnson, N.R. (2005). Exercise during pregnancy: a critical appraisal of the literature. Journal of Reproductive Medicine, 50, 181-188.