Just how active should you be during pregnancy?
While expecting mothers may not feel like it at times, exercise can actually be one of the best things for both mom and the baby to be. Unless a physician has told you that you are in need of bed rest due to a physical condition, the last thing you should be doing is spending all of your time on the couch.
According to Dr. David Dannenbaum, who treats patients at the Waskaganish clinic for the Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay, many myths abound when it comes to maternity, particularly where physical activity is concerned.
“Being overweight in pregnancy can be a serious problem. In the old days people used to work until they gave birth, but nowadays some women are scared to even sweep the floor while pregnant,” said Dannenbaum.
While pregnancy is a time when most women may want to kick back, relax and indulge every craving, being inactive and eating as though you are eating for two people (twice the amount) could actually be detrimental to the unborn due to an excess of sugar.
According to Dannenbaum, the CBHSSJB has been seeing diabetes diagnosed in younger and younger Crees in the last 20-30 years. While diagnosis for Type 2 diabetes used to happen more frequently with those in their 50s or 60s, it is now being detected in Crees in their 20s and 30s. The big question is why is this happening?
“Many studies coming out now are showing that it likely is due to the exposure of the baby in the mother’s uterus to an unhealthy sugar environment,” said Dannenbaum.
“When the mother’s sugar is a little too high, it crosses over to the baby and makes their baby’s pancreas work too hard. (However, the mother’s insulin does not cross through to the baby.) The baby is then born with a pancreas that is already abnormal, and this increases the baby’s chance of being overweight and getting diabetes at an early age as they grow up. An important way to protect the next generation from diabetes and obesity issues is to get pregnant women active while their babies are forming in their tummies.”
While the common belief is that pregnant women should start taking it easy from the moment they find out that they are pregnant, in reality they should be getting regular exercise.
Dannenbaum said the only recommendation for exercise when pregnant is not to start a new or excessive exercise. With this in mind, the pregnant woman who is not used to any activity whatsoever can (and perhaps should) start out with a daily 20-minute walk. But for the athletic gal used to training on a regular basis, early pregnancy is no reason to hold off on the daily routine.
“My own wife played hockey until she was 28 weeks pregnant with all of our babies, until the fetus was coming out of the pelvis and then we worried about it getting hit by a stick. If you are a marathon runner, you can run marathons,” said Dannenbaum.
He stressed that pregnancy should not be treated like a disease or handicap and most women should be able to do most of the activities that they want.
As for the myth that activity will cause miscarriages, Dannenbaum said that most women miscarry because there is something wrong with the fetus.
“One in five pregnancies will have a miscarriage. It is very common. Most women will have one miscarriage in their lives and usually it is a result of chromosomal abnormalities, not because of exercise or working hard. There are certain kinds of conditions that would have a doctor tell a patient not to exercise, but absolute bed rest is very rare. Overall, unless your doctor tells you not to exercise, then you should exercise,” said Dannenbaum.
Lemon Cree founder and proud mother of two, Theresa Ducharme attests to the fact that fitness has enhanced her life, especially while pregnant.
“It is healthy for the baby if you get some exercise. Once you are moving and there is oxygen and blood flowing and the muscles are being used, everything is then benefiting from your mind to your bones,” said Ducharme.
“It is up to the individual what kind of exercise to do. A marathon runner can keep doing marathons, but someone new to exercise can just start walking and if not walking, swimming is also great. I was out in a club dancing when I went into labour – it was something that I never let it stop my life. It enhanced my life because I was able to get into shape and thankfully it did not cause any harm to me or the baby.”
For those looking to start out with a little activity, Ducharme suggested a light jog, a swim or a treadmill workout. And that if you are used to working with weights, keep it up.
At the same time, the usual recommendations for working out continue to apply, which is to stop if you feel dizzy or have difficulty breathing.
Even abdominal workouts aren’t out of the question.
“There is that whole myth that the baby will detach from the uterus if you are doing an abdominal workout, but that is not true. Look at our ancestors from just about any Nation, those women worked hard! Go back to 50 years ago and those women were working hard in the field or in the bush and doing that with lots of children at their feet. Being pregnant didn’t stop a woman from anything that they had to do,” said Ducharme.
According to Wally Rabbitskin, a Program Planning and Research Officer for Physical Activity at the CBHSSJB, physical activity has been a daily part of ancestral Cree life and it should be now, despite the objections he gets from some.
While it may not be necessary to be out chopping wood or fetching water every day, he said that being physical is all part of being balanced in life.
“People talk about maintaining our culture, but for me, physical activity has always been part of Cree life. And we need to keep this because we were once a very physically active culture,” said Rabbitskin.
For anyone looking to take on some new physical activity, expecting or not, Rabbitskin said that the end of June will see the beginning of the Summer Active programming in the Cree communities. This will include a 100-mile virtual-walk challenge over the course of the summer.
For more information on pregnancy and activity, inquire at your local clinic.