Physical activity in pregnancy

Pregnant women should be encouraged to get at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity activity each day as part of a healthy lifestyle.

Women who were physically active before pregnancy should be able to continue with no adverse impact on their pregnancy (see the section on safety for some exceptions to this). Women who were not regularly active before pregnancy should build up gradually to 30 minutes of activity each day, starting off with no more than 15 minutes of continuous activity, three times per week.

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Ways to be active in pregnancy

Many women may feel intimidated at the idea of suddenly taking up sport, or going to an exercise class. Explain that physical activity does not have to be structured exercise, but can also include day to day activities, such as walking to work.

Possible suggestions:

• Make activity part of everyday life e.g. walking to the shops, gardening, walking the children to school, walking up and down the stairs 10 times a day.
• Minimise sedentary activities, such as sitting for long periods watching television, at a computer or playing video games.
• Walk, cycle or use another mode of transport involving physical activity.

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Risks of sedentary lifestyle

• Loss of muscular and cardiovascular fitness
• Excessive gestational weight gain
• Increased risk of gestational diabetes mellitus
• Increased risk of pre-eclampsia
• Development of varicose veins
• Physical complaints such as dyspnoea or lower back pain
• Poor psychological adjustment to the physical changes of pregnancy

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Safe exercise in pregnancy

Reassure women that being active in pregnancy is safe for both the mother and for the baby, even for women who were not active before. There are however a few restrictions to the type of activities that women should participate in.

• Avoid exercises lying on the back, due to lower maternal cardiac output and symptomatic hypotension after 16 weeks of gestation.
• Avoid activities with an increased risk of falling or excessive joint stress (e.g. horse riding, cycling and skiing), and physical contact sports ,as hormonal changes lead to raised joint laxity and hyper mobility.
• Do not scuba dive, as the fetus is not protected from decompression sickness and gas embolism.
• Exercise should be to maintain fitness rather than trying to reach peak fitness level or train for athletic events.
• Women with gestational diabetes should monitor blood glucose, regulate meal times, schedule rest periods and carefully track fetal activity and uterine contractions.

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Also in this section

• Obesity management guide - overview
• Weight and nutrition
• Effective communication

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Download the Obesity Management guide

The author of the Obesity Management guide is Dr Nicola Heslehurst.

You can download a PDF version of the full Obesity Management Guide which includes references and more detailed information.