It may turn out to be quite challenging to keep physically fit these days, especially for working women who spend much of their time in their offices. When you’re pregnant, a sedentary lifestyle can bring about sluggishness. It can also be detrimental to your health and that of your baby too. Regular exercise can boost mood, improve sleep and reduce pregnancy aches and pains. It helps prevent and treat gestational diabetes and may even keep preeclampsia at bay! Exercise can prep you for childbirth by strengthening muscles and building endurance. It makes it much easier to get back in shape after your baby’s born too!

Exercising during pregnancy

Even when pressed for time, exercise is a must for a healthy pregnant body, one which looks fit and toned. Here are some forms of exercise that can easily be fitted into the busiest of daily schedules!

Walking

The champion of cardiovascular exercises with almost zero impact on the body! Walking keeps you fit throughout pregnancy without jarring your knees and ankles. It’s also easy to do, doesn’t require any equipment beyond a good pair of supportive shoes, and is safe throughout all nine months of pregnancy. So, put on some comfy clothes and take a walk around the neighborhood, will you mama?

Low-impact aerobics

These heart- strengthening movements help to keep you toned all over and provide an overall feeling of wellness. Why not enroll in a prenatal aerobics class and enjoy the company of other pregnant women as well? Plus, you will be reassured that each movement is safe for you and your baby.

Swimming

Swimming has long been hailed as one of the best forms of physical exercises of all time. It’s also one of the safest exercises for pregnant women. Swimming is ideal because it exercises the large muscle groups (arms and legs), provides cardiovascular benefits, and allows expectant women to feel weightless in the water despite the extra pounds of pregnancy.

Dancing

You can get your heart pumping by dancing to your favorite tunes in the comfort of your own living room with a DVD, or better still, join at a dance class! However, do avoid partaking in complicated movements that call for leaps, jumps, or twirls.

Prenatal massages for comfort and well-being

Massage therapies can make a refreshing difference to one’s well-being during pregnancy. They can reduce stress levels like magic and promote overall wellness. Massages also help to provide relief from many of the normal discomforts experienced during pregnancy, such as backaches, stiff neck, leg cramps, headaches and edema. They also help reduce stress on weight-bearing joints, encourage blood and lymph circulation, relax nervous tension and relieve depression or anxiety caused by hormonal changes.

Certified therapists take extra care to ensure that pregnant clients are comfortably positioned with supportive pillows or cushions to alleviate the extra strain on the lower back and pelvic areas during the massages. Massage techniques also specially cater for pregnant bodies to avoid any potential discomfort.

Comforting relief

Massages for pregnant women can help address many of the discomforts associated with pregnancy. It will be good to talk it out with your therapist and discuss the aches and pains you would like to address.

Headaches – Gentle head, forehead, neck and shoulder massages may help reduce the chances of migraines or tension headaches by relaxing trigger points and muscle spasms.

Muscle tension – Can be relieved by encouraging blood flow to the afflicted areas. This provides more oxygen and also increases the flow of lymphatic fluid, which sweeps away toxins and metabolic waste.

Fatigue – Your backaches, leg cramps and swelling/edema can all be relieved through various types of massages for pregnant women.

Ordinary aches and pains of pregnancy – These can all be countered by the release of serotonin, your body’s natural anti-pain chemical, which is released during massages.