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UK Wedding News

04/06/2015

Women Encouraged To Exercise During Pregnancy

A new study is encouraging women to exercise during their pregnancy, after those who do so, were found to be less likely to have gestational diabetes.

In addition, it was revealed that moderate exercise helps to reduce maternal weight gain.

The study, which has been published in BJOG, looked at the results of enrolling healthy pregnant women – who did little or no exercise – into exercise programmes.

The 13 trials involved more than 2,800 women and discovered that exercise reduced the risk of gestational diabetes by more than 30%. For those who exercised throughout their pregnancy, this increased to 36%. It is understood this trend was strongest for women who combined aerobic, flexibility, strength and toning exercise.

In addition, the team behind the research found that exercise can also help reduce excessive weight gain, with those who exercised being around 1kg lighter. This remained similar for the weight gain, even if the exercise programme was started in the second trimester.

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Commenting on the findings, Mike Marsh, BJOG deputy editor-in-chief, said: "This careful analysis of previous studies shows a beneficial effect of exercise on healthy pregnant women who ordinarily did little or no exercise. It may influence recommendations for exercise in pregnancy in such women. Further studies are needed to establish whether this effect is seen in all pregnant women."

Mervi Jokinen, Royal College of Midwives' (RCM) practice and standards professional advisor, commented: "It is important to keep physically active during pregnancy – moderate exercise will not harm the woman or her baby.

"Recreational exercise, such as swimming or brisk walking, is known to be beneficial and this study appears to show a potential benefit of exercise in reducing the risk of gestational diabetes. We know that there is an increase of this condition in pregnancy among obese women.

"The exercise pregnant women take should reflect their previous exercise regime. So, for example, it would not be appropriate for a woman who has done no exercise for many years to suddenly start running long distances in pregnancy. If women exercised regularly before pregnancy, they should be able to continue with no adverse effects.

"If women have not exercised routinely they should begin with no more than 15 minutes of continuous exercise, three times per week, increasing gradually to daily 30-minute sessions. If they have any questions, we advise them to talk to their midwife or GP."

The full study can be found online here.

(JP)

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"A new study is encouraging women to exercise during their pregnancy, after those who do so, were found to be less likely to have gestational diabetes."