hi everyone my name is dr sarah bjorkman and i am an ob gyn and i am also 11 weeks pregnant uh and
i'm her husband i'm dr kurt bjorkman and i am a pediatrician and we are documenting this pregnancy
journey while creating this youtube week by week pregnancy guide for mama speak and for their
partners every week bringing you information about what's going on with pregnancy and also
what's happening with babies development we are covering everything to have you prepared for labor
birth and that postpartum journey yeah and so this week we're going to be talking about a very
much requested topic exercise and pregnancy all about how to maximize the benefit for
mom and baby while also not putting either a wrist so stay tuned for what's coming next
in hearing from all of you both on youtube and instagram we've had so many questions about
exercise and pregnancy is it safe what should i do how often what are the benefits anyway
and it's completely understandable why there's so many questions about this
and there's a lot of information out there on the internet about exercise and pregnancy and
some of it's good evidence-based and some of it's not so today we want to give you
the facts so that you are equipped with the most evidence-based and up-to-date information about
exercise in pregnancy so you can maximize the health benefits for you and for baby
but before we get to that let's hear an update on what is happening with baby's development during
week 11. so it's week 11 and baby is already starting to look like well a tiny human and is
about the size of a lime or four centimeters in length by this time baby is developing eyebrows
and has started to pee it's really interesting in that the pea actually makes up most of the
amniotic fluid that surrounds baby that baby swallows and breathes in to help develop the lungs
the most important take-home message from this episode is this physical activity in pregnancy
is the number one best thing you can do to help reduce pregnancy complications and to
improve maternal physical and mental health so that's a big statement but it is 100 percent true
so exercise and pregnancy isn't just something that we should think as a nice thing to do
but rather as a must-do critical therapy to improve outcomes for mom and baby yeah
so we're going to start this episode by sharing with you some of the incredible things that
exercise when done appropriately can help to do for mom and baby and we're going to show you
what the evidence says about how to maximize those benefits and so for all of this we're
going to bring information directly from the american college of obstetrics and gynecology
and also a huge review of 675 unique scientific articles that was used to formulate the canadian
guidelines for physical activity and pregnancy so by following these guidelines
um it is associated with some amazing benefits yeah and specifically for a baby there can
be fewer complications like being large for gestational age and in terms of maternal benefits
there is an association with a decreased risk of preeclampsia gestational hypertension gestational
diabetes there is a decreased risk of needing a c-section or an operative delivery and there it
also lowers the risk of urinary incontinence as well as excessive weight gain during pregnancy
and it helps with that weight loss after pregnancy and this list of benefits just keeps on going for
things like improved blood sugar control for moms who are pregnant decreased total weight
gain during pregnancy and also a decreased risk for depression during pregnancy or a decreased
severity of depressive symptoms experienced so we of course know all of these amazing benefits of
exercise and pregnancy but that doesn't mean it's always easy to do and so as a partner in pregnancy
my job is now to be encouraging and enabling for us to both go and be physically active together
and oftentimes it means hey let's go make sure we get our workout in for the day
but sometimes we're still human and it means yes of course i'll drive you to go get ice cream
so what are the actual recommendations for exercise and pregnancy so to make it
as simple as possible we're going to keep our list to six recommendation number one all women
without contra indications should be physically active throughout pregnancy so women with these
absolute contraindications can still participate in their activities of daily living but should not
do more vigorous activity if you're a woman with a relative contraindication it's good to sit down
with your ob provider to discuss the advantages versus disadvantages of participating in more
vigorous exercise recommendation number two pregnant women should get at least 150 minutes of
moderate intensity exercise every week to achieve those clinically meaningful health benefits
and reductions and complications that we were talking about and if you're wondering how do
you classify moderate intensity there's a couple of good ways to think about this the first is
just as simple as measuring your heart rate and this table can show you some heart rate specific
guides for measuring intensity of a workout in pregnancy another good method is the talk test
and as this implies if you're not able to comfortably carry on a conversation doing
the level of activity you're at you should try to reduce just a little bit so you can do this
recommendation number three that physical activity should be accumulated over a minimum
of three days per week but daily activity is strongly encouraged recommendation number four
women should work to incorporate both activities of aerobic exercise and resistance training to
achieve greater health benefits there's been some big scientific studies and systematic
reviews that have showed an improved health benefit in pregnancy when combining resistance
and aerobic exercise as opposed to just doing aerobic exercise alone there's also some
evidence that adding yoga or gentle stretching can potentially add additional benefits as well
recommendation number five pelvic floor muscle training also known as kegel exercises
can be performed on a daily basis to help reduce the risk of urinary incontinence
some studies show that prenatal pelvic floor muscle training can reduce your risk of
prenatal urinary incontinence by about 50 and the risk of postnatal urinary incontinence by about 35
now the strength of the studies for this recommendation is weaker than the ones we have
done before but the benefit can be improved by having the proper training in how to perform that
pelvic floor muscle training recommendation number six women who experience nausea whiteheadedness or
feeling unwell while lying on their back during exercise should work to avoid that position now
this is something that many of you women who are later in pregnancy may know well and that
a large uterus can actually compress some of the blood flow returning to the heart while lying on
your back and so if you're feeling unwell while lying on your back work to find a new position
just because i'm sure many of you are wondering i want to let you know that physical activity is not
associated with any of these negative outcomes miscarriage stillbirth neonatal death
preterm birth preterm rupture of membranes neonatal hypoglycemia low birth weight birth
defects induction of labor or birth complications so if you don't have one of the contraindications
we talked about earlier don't let the fear of these things keep you from exercising now if
you're pregnant and not currently getting the 150 minutes of recommended moderate intensity exercise
each week that's okay but the recommendation is that you work progressively towards that goal
if you're one of those amazing mamas who is already really physically active
you're running five miles a day lifting weights going to spin class that is awesome keep it up but
also keep in mind that you may need to modify your physical activity as your pregnancy progresses
and there may be times when following those recommendations is just not possible because
of fatigue or pregnancy discomforts so the recommendation is to do what you can and then
get back to those six recommendations when you are able so now that you understand
all these amazing benefits of exercising pregnancy and know whether or not it's safe for you to do so
your next question might be well what exercises should i do we want you to know that there's no
magic exercise or best exercise your goal is to get those 150 minutes of exercise every week
split over at least three days of the week exercise in pregnancy uh easier said than done
sometimes i found for me if i didn't work out in the morning or early afternoon it didn't
happen uh because by the end of the day there was no way i was pulling my buns off the couch
other things that helped i got a couple new sports bras to accommodate the girls um i
have a like a support belt a pregnancy support belt for later in pregnancy when your belly is a
little bigger a lot of my friends have said that's helpful make sure you're drinking lots of water
don't overheat yourself if it's 90 degrees outside don't work out outside
and ultimately listen to your body and try to get that exercise in when you can
we're sure you've noticed there is an ever-growing market for pregnancy-specific workouts and plans
and while these can be great and especially helpful if you need a place to start they are
not absolutely necessary remember the goal here is to be active and can be as simple as walking on
an incline riding a stationary bike yoga pilates swimming combined with a little bit of resistance
or weight training now if you are new to exercise that's great you want to start out slowly and then
gradually increase the amount you're exercising start with as little as five minutes a day and
every week add five more minutes until you can exercise for 30 minutes a day so your body goes
through a lot of amazing changes during pregnancy and some of these are really important to keep in
mind when choosing exercises the first off is some hormones made during pregnancy actually cause some
of your joints to be a bit more relaxed well this becomes incredibly important while giving
birth to a human a couple months down the road it can also cause some of your mobile joints to be a
bit more loose and more prone to injury and so for this reason it's good to avoid jerky bouncy high
impact motions if possible you're also going to notice that your balance is going to change
you're going to have that change in increasing weight in the front of your belly
from that growing belly and so you're going to notice that your center of gravity is a little
different and so that places new stresses on your muscles and joints especially in your lower back
and your pelvis so it's a good idea to just be aware of that change in your center of gravity
and being off balance do some stretching and be self-aware of your body changes you may
also notice that you're a bit more shorter breath than usual as breathing changes during pregnancy
this is for two big factors one is the oxygen demand of your body increases and also later
in pregnancy you're gonna have a uterus that's actually getting in the way of taking a full
deep breath so if you're experiencing this know that it could be very normal now there are a few
exercises you should avoid for example you don't want to do anything where you could have contact
trauma with your belly so nothing no basketball no wrestling no boxing um football nothing like
that yeah giving up wrestling was tough for her um it's also good not to go skydiving unless you
absolutely have to avoid anything where you could fall again you don't want to fall on your belly
so no downhill skiing surfing riding a horse etc yeah uh exercises like hot yoga or hot pilates
are probably good to avoid too as they can lead to dehydration and overheating no scuba diving
in pregnancy um and also try not to exercise at altitudes higher than six thousand feet elevation
unless you already live at a high altitude so whether you are a seasoned athlete or a beginner
these are some warning signs to watch out for when you're exercising and if you notice any of
them you should stop and call your ob gyn things like vaginal bleeding yeah shortness of breath
before starting exercise or dizziness or headache or faintness during chest pain muscle weakness
calf pain or calf swelling and if you start having regular painful contractions or notice a gush of
fluid from your vagina it is time to call your ob gyn so to summarize everything up from this week
being active with exercise in pregnancy is the number one thing you can do to reduce maternal
complications and improve maternal health and outcomes while also helping baby along the way
you want to shoot for 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise every week it's best when
you exercise at least three times a week and you incorporate cardio as well as resistance training
so if you aren't active already start now even a little bit now is better than nothing at all
so that is a wrap for us this week hopefully that is everything you need to know about exercise and
pregnancy but if you have any questions or want to know about anything we didn't cover please leave
a comment below we would love to chat and don't forget to hit subscribe to make sure you catch our
video next week we look forward to seeing you guys all then go get a great workout bye guys
we're doctors but not your doctors anything we've said in this video
is for education or entertainment purposes only it is not medical
advice any specific medical questions you have should be directed to your provider