Walking Daily: A Simple Habit with Big Benefits for Moms-to-Be

Pregnancy is one of the blissful periods in a woman’s life. They embrace every second of it, thinking about their baby and its well-being. Physiological activities during pregnancy heavily impacts the childbirth and overall health of both the infant and mother.

Exercising during pregnancy is one of the best and most advised activities to do for a healthy and natural childbirth. There are plenty of pregnancy workouts such as prenatal yoga, aerobic swimming and walking. 

Walking during pregnancy is the most easiest and effective exercise for pregnant women as it simply regulates their physical and mental functions. 

Let’s see the benefits of exercising while pregnant and the scientific reasons behind it. 

Walking Helps for Natural Childbirth

According to a clinical observation, the effects of walking significantly reduced the need for induced labor, cesarean birth and instrumental delivery in pregnant women.

The third stage of delivery was shorter in women who did moderate walking and other exercises than women with little to no activity. 

Bishop Score

Bishop score is an evaluation system carried out on pregnant women to identify the probability and readiness of natural childbirth. 

Walking increases your bishop score and promotes natural delivery by decreasing the needs for interventions like induced labor or C-section. 

Apgar Score

Apgar score is a scoring system that assesses the health of a newborn on a scale of 0 to 10. It indicates the overall health of your baby in terms of appearance, breathing rate, activity and pulse. 

Walking has positive effects on your baby’s Apgar score indicating a healthy heart beat, muscle tone and activity. 

Healthy Birthweight Level

Walking during pregnancy decreases the risk of macrosmia (above average weight of newborn) by keeping metabolic rates at a normal level. It regulates your blood sugar, insulin response, blood pressure and body fat distribution. 

It helps to maintain a healthy birthweight level that eliminates the risk of underweight or overweight of the baby. 

Why Walking During Pregnancy is the Best Exercise for Women

Pregnancy is usually associated with low body movement and persistent fatigue in women. It is also not advised for them to do intensive activities such as lifting, running or cardiovascular activities.  

But, it necessarily need not to be unproductive. Pregnant women can walk in slow to moderate paces that regulates their aerobic respiration, blood circulation and mood levels. 

Walking is the go to option for pregnant women that does not compromise on benefits while still being light in terms of intensity. 

Here are some of the pregnancy walking exercises that are recommended by experts,

Brisk walking: 

Walk at a slightly faster pace, usually 3 kilometres per hour while still able to breath and talk. It burns more calories and improves your metabolism. Women in their final stages of their pregnancy are not recommended to try this.

Interval Walking: 

Alternate between brisk walking and slow paced walking. It boosts your metabolism and maintains a healthy weight level. Usually recommended for women between the first trimester and the end of the second trimester. 

Prenatal Walking:

Walk at a slow pace with a focus on flexibility and movement. It is a gentle and low impact walking that aims for circulation, mood levels and digestion. Avoid overexertion and be mindful while walking.

Overall Benefits of Pregnancy Walking

Walking monitors metabolic rates and improves them, resulting in reduced risks of excess weight. It helps you quickly get back in shape after delivery. Successively it also decreases lower back pain and promotes fitness.

By maintaining insulin response rates and blood sugar levels, it decreases the risk for pregnancy diabetes. 

It reduces other potential risks during pregnancy such as preeclampsia (high blood pressure), varicose veins, deep-vein thromboembolism (clotting of blood in deep veins).

Walking is a simple yet effective exercise that ultimately improves the quality of life for pregnant women. 

To know more about the safe workout plans and pregnancy care, visit Sugam – a pregnancy hospital Chennai that provides extensive care for pregnant women.