We have commented several times on the blog that moderate exercise during pregnancy is tremendously beneficial for mom and baby.
Among many other advantages, it improves circulation favoring the arrival of nutrients to the baby, helps relieve discomfort, favors weight control, helps to be fit to cope with childbirth and, above all, benefits mental health.
A new study has found an added benefit, since it has discovered that physically active women reduce the risk of giving birth prematurely.
The team led by Mette Juhl, of the National Institute of Public Health in Copenhagen, analyzed data related to physical activity and the time of delivery of 87,232 pregnant women between 1996 and 2002.
Of all, only a third said to exercise low impact (yoga, swimming, hiking, cycling, etc.) between one and two hours a week only during the first half of pregnancy. In the second half, many abandoned.
The study showed that those women who swam or exercised low impact during pregnancy were less likely to have a preterm birth than women who did not do any type of activity.
It is not by chance that the risk of premature delivery is also linked to excessive weight gain as well as to the mother's anxiety states, so more reasons for moderate physical exercise during pregnancy are included.
