0 Exercise Precautions in First Trimester of Pregnancy

Exercise is important during pregnancy for staying healthy as it improves the strength and flexibility of your muscles and bones, and also the quality of sleep. However, you need to guard against overstraining yourself as your condition is vulnerable as you are carrying your baby. If you are wondering about exercise in the first trimester of pregnancy, precautions given here for you and your baby’s safety

Exercise Precaution Tips for First Trimester Pregnancy

• Guard against overheating – The first thing you need to watch out for when exercising during pregnancy is your body getting overheated. This is because you will find your body getting heated faster than before. It will not allow you to push hard enough and if you put additional strain, it can harm you. You might find yourself down with sudden flush. Keep a jug of cool water handy when exercising or better still; take a break for some time if this happens. Avoid all types of hot baths as they will raise your body temperature.
• Precautions in prenatal yoga – The forms of yoga that put too much strain on your body or raise the body temperature need to be avoided in the first trimester pregnancy. The vigorous ashtanga or vinyasa flow classes should be avoided too if you are not a practitioner already. Choose a prenatal yoga class which has specifically designed workouts for your condition. What’s more, you can get experienced instructors adept in modifying the yoga poses to suit your condition, and they would prescribe and make you do yogic exercises most beneficial and suitable to first pregnancy trimester.
• Monitor your heart rate – When you work out during first trimester, make sure your heart rate does not go beyond 140 beats per minute. If heart rate is higher than this, it can restrict the flow of oxygen to your baby and cause birth defects. So, overstraining yourself in exercise during first trimester of pregnancy can not only result in overheating, but it can also harm your baby. If you are able to talk while exercising, it means your heart rate is under control. If that is not the case, you need to slow down.
• Managing a medical condition – If you have a medical condition, such as preterm delivery, miscarriage, severe anaemia, preeclampsia, high blood pressure, overweight, underweight, or diabetes, be especially careful in exercising. It would be advisable that you inform your yoga instructor about your condition and ask him to make you perform very mild exercises that do not aggravate your condition.

Although exercise can be very beneficial for expecting moms, there are some who should not consider it. Excessive vaginal bleeding, threatened miscarriage, cervical weakness, serious heart or lung disease, placenta praevia are some conditions which render exercise useless for pregnancy fitness in first trimester.