Can a pregnant woman do yoga？
How much do you know about pregnancy yoga?
At present, medical experts generally believe that pregnant mothers should participate in 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise every day. Clinical trials of prenatal exercise have been conducted in the United States and the United Kingdom, believing that exercise can effectively improve discomfort during pregnancy and increase the final rate of successful labor. The exercise they used during this clinical study was yoga.
The benefits of yoga for pregnant women:
Yoga For pregnant women
1. Increase the strength of body muscles, improve physical fitness, and prepare for natural childbirth.
2. Train balance skills to help pregnant mothers establish good stability and promote fetal cerebellar development.
3. Drive the fetus and baby to exercise together, activate qi and blood, pleasure the mood, and promote the baby’s brain development.
4. Exercising pelvic floor muscles, increasing the elasticity of muscles and ligaments, is beneficial for natural childbirth, postpartum pelvic floor muscle repair, and body repair.
5. It can effectively alleviate various discomfort symptoms during pregnancy, such as vomiting, back pain, constipation, pubic pain, and so on.
6. It can assist in pelvic insertion and fetal position adjustment, promoting the initiation of delivery.
7. Mothers who started practicing yoga during pregnancy can control their weight, prevent pregnancy hypertension, diabetes, macrosomia, and reduce cesarean section rate.
8. After giving birth, we actively repair damaged pelvic floor muscles, rectus abdominis, and internal and external oblique muscles through yoga practice, tightening the relaxed muscles, improving our pelvic deformities caused by pregnancy, and restoring women’s confidence and beauty as soon as possible and better!
Yoga For babies:
1. Yoga enhances maternal blood circulation, increases the supply of oxygen and nutrients to the fetus, and promotes the development of the fetus’s brain and body.
2. The specific position of yoga during pregnancy can stimulate the baby’s tactile sensation, strengthen the interaction between mother and child, and make the baby more agile and agile after giving birth, leading to healthy growth.
When do you do yoga during pregnancy?
The best time to practice yoga for pregnant women should be after 3 months of pregnancy (14 weeks of pregnancy), when the fetus has stabilized in bed. Pregnant mothers can choose suitable yoga leggings and appropriate exercise methods based on their personal constitution and previous exercise situation.
But if the following situations occur, mothers will temporarily stop doing yoga:
1. Suffering from severe heart disease or respiratory system disease
2. Uncontrolled hypertension, severe preeclampsia/eclampsia
3. Vaginal bleeding
4. Placenta previa
5. Premature rupture of membranes
6. Severe anemia
7. Fetal growth restriction
8. History of habitual miscarriage and threatened preterm birth
9. Cervical incompetence or after cerclage surgery
Within three days of amniocentesis
11. Epilepsy, uncontrolled thyroid disease
12. Multiple pregnancies (three or more), etc
Common yoga movements during pregnancy:
- Sit cross-legged
Sit with the palms of your left and right feet facing each other, keeping your back straight and leaning forward slightly, feeling the extension of your thighs and buttocks. Hold for 5 seconds and slowly return to a relaxed sitting position.
Effect: This action can help exercise the endurance and toughness of the pelvic, thigh, and buttocks muscles, which is beneficial for smooth delivery.
- 2. Side lying and leg lift
Lie on your side on a yoga mat, with one arm supporting your head and the other hand in front of your chest to help maintain balance. Slowly lift the upper leg (keeping it straight), then slowly lower it, repeat 10 times before switching sides.
Effect: Can exercise thigh muscles and lateral abdominal muscles
- 3. Squat
Relax and stand, with legs slightly wider than shoulders, back straight, arms facing forward, then slowly squat for 5 seconds, repeating 10 times. Note: The knees should not exceed the toes.
Effect: Adjust the pelvis, alleviate low back pain, and increase the resilience of pelvic floor muscles.
- 4. Goddess style
Relax and stand with your legs slightly wider than your shoulders, roll your feet outward, slowly bend your knees, move your body down, lift your hands up, fingers open and up, your arms level with your shoulders, and your forearms at a 90°. Control your breathing and hold for 10 seconds.
Effect: Increase the endurance and toughness of pelvic floor muscles, which is conducive to smooth delivery.
Exercise not recommended during pregnancy:
Sports with a high risk of injury or falling, such as horseback riding, basketball, skiing, ice hockey, gymnastics, weightlifting, etc; Diving or diving; Hot yoga, hot pilates; Abdominal strengthening exercises such as bending and twisting related movements; Movement that increases abdominal pressure, such as arm support and feet off the ground; If you have not lived in high-altitude areas, you cannot exercise in high-altitude areas.
Precautions for exercise during pregnancy:
1. Pregnant women should do sufficient warm-up exercises during exercise to avoid muscle strain and excessive fatigue;
2. Pay attention to maintaining an adequate water supply, but it is not recommended to drink cola or sports drinks;
3. Wear loose and comfortable clothing during exercise;
4. Pay attention to the frequency and amplitude of exercise, and avoid exercising in high temperature and humidity environments;
5. When pregnant women experience any discomfort during exercise, they should stop exercising and seek medical attention;
6. If pregnant women with gestational diabetes use insulin therapy, they should be alert to hypoglycemia caused by exercise, especially in the early pregnancy;
7. Pregnant women who are obese before pregnancy should start exercising with low intensity and short duration, and then gradually strengthen;
