{"id":99675,"date":"2019-12-07T15:04:12","date_gmt":"2019-12-07T23:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=99675"},"modified":"2020-04-01T19:35:49","modified_gmt":"2020-04-02T02:35:49","slug":"how-to-stay-active-outdoors-while-pregnant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/news\/how-to-stay-active-outdoors-while-pregnant","title":{"rendered":"How to Stay Active Outdoors While Pregnant"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note: Pregnancy experience varies from woman to woman; as a result, this story is not meant as medical or safety advice. Please consult your physician to talk about what is right for you.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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I had just returned from a trail run with my husband and I was feeling funny. It was mid-May and I was excited for the months of good weather ahead. But I was also exhausted\u2014so much so that I decided to take a rare midafternoon nap. Puzzled, I finally took a pregnancy test. It was positive.<\/span><\/p>\n

After learning I\u2019d be having a baby boy in January 2020, I happily made plans for an active pregnancy. I would continue running, I figured, at least until the middle of my pregnancy. I had friends who\u2019d done it! And I\u2019d keep hiking, too. For my 29th year, I\u2019d planned to tackle 29 peaks and challenging hikes. <\/span>That should still be possible,<\/span><\/i> I thought. After all, hiking involved mostly walking. I wanted to make my way through the next nine months focused on feeling physically strong.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then the nausea hit. From week six onward, I threw up multiple times per day. I\u2019d never felt so exhausted, and I often slept 14 hours at night. A 7-mile hike with 1,000 feet of elevation gain during month four of my pregnancy put me on the couch for two days. As the months went by, even hiking on easy trails made my body shake with exhaustion.two se<\/span><\/p>\n

Running, too, became a challenge. I jogged often at first, even clocking a respectable time in a local 5-mile race, but it wasn\u2019t comfortable. I felt like I was sucking air from the moment I stepped out the door. The fetus bounced against my bladder and my joints felt bizarre, like they were coming apart. Eventually, after a few months, I abandoned that pastime, too.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was able to maintain some activity like yoga, despite the nausea, exhaustion and joint pain. Still, I struggled mentally with losing the hardcore outdoor routine, which felt like a part of my identity. My physical therapist reminded me, month after month, that my body was doing something <\/span>much<\/span> harder than usual. I needed to cut it some slack. But the immediate shift away from my norm felt like the end of something I had once loved.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As I started to research the topic of the outdoors and pregnancy, I discovered a few things: First, I wasn\u2019t alone. Maintaining a high-intensity workout routine while pregnant isn\u2019t possible for many women, despite our expectations. Second, many women experience anxiety when they can\u2019t do their usual activities, especially athletes. And third, it\u2019s still a good idea to try to get outdoors, even if the activity doesn\u2019t look quite like it used to.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The research behind exercise during pregnancy<\/span><\/h3>\n

Recommendations about exercising during pregnancy have shifted dramatically in the past 10 years. After it had been recommending for years that pregnant women engage in limited exercise, in 2015, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) released a <\/span>groundbreaking report<\/span><\/a>\u00a0revealing the benefits of exercise during pregnancy. Study author Dr. Raul Artal <\/span>wrote<\/span><\/a>: \u201cPregnancy should not be looked at as a state of confinement. In fact, it is an ideal time for lifestyle modification. That is because more than any other time in her life, a pregnant woman has the most available access to medical care and supervision.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This year, ACOG took things a step further when it released a new <\/span>set of recommendations<\/span><\/a>\u00a0suggesting that women can even begin an exercise routine while pregnant. \u201cPhysical activity does not increase your risk of miscarriage, low birth weight, or early delivery,\u201d the report said, noting that every woman should discuss exercise with her care provider prior to getting started. Some conditions, such as heart and lung disease, placenta previa, being pregnant with multiples, anemia and preeclampsia might make exercise more dangerous. Your health care provider should be able to help you make decisions about what\u2019s best for you and your baby.<\/span><\/p>\n

Experts are coming around to the idea that exercise can be helpful for pregnant women, especially when it comes to combating uncomfortable or risky pregnancy symptoms like back pain<\/a>, constipation<\/a>, gestational diabetes<\/a>, excessive or limited weight gain<\/a> and more.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you think about blood flow and oxygenation in general, more exercise helps you get more blood flow to the baby,\u201d Heather Ranney, a certified nurse midwife at the University of Washington, says. \u201cExercising is not drawing support away from the baby. Actually, a strong and healthy body has more endurance and is better prepared for pregnancy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A <\/span>2019 report<\/span><\/a> from the British Journal of Sports Medicine<\/em> even noted that \u201cprenatal physical activity should be considered a front-line therapy for reducing the risk of pregnancy complications and enhancing maternal physical and mental health.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What kinds of exercise are best?<\/span><\/h3>\n

According to ACOG, pregnant women should aim for 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity every week. That means you\u2019re moving the large muscles of your body just enough to get your heart rate up. Women who exercised before pregnancy are generally encouraged to continue their routines if they feel good; women who didn\u2019t exercise before pregnancy should start slow.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn general, most of the time, we say that what you have done prior to pregnancy, you can do during pregnancy,\u201d Ranney says. \u201cBut you do need to increase water … You also have to be really aware of snacks, especially eating protein-based snacks, because your blood sugar is more sensitive and you\u2019ll get dips where you haven\u2019t before.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As for more intense exercise like high-altitude hiking or competitive running, the research remains inconclusive. A <\/span>few studies<\/span><\/a> have shown that traveling to high elevations and staying active in outdoor sports won\u2019t necessarily put women at greater risk, however, the findings acknowledge that further research is necessary. Ranney says it really depends on the individual person and what her body can tolerate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some activities <\/span>are<\/span><\/i> truly off limits for most pregnant women\u2014especially those that could cause impact trauma. According to ACOG, that list includes:<\/span><\/p>\n