Pregnant women need to stay active to maintain physical fitness. One of them by doing yoga for pregnant women. Pregnancy yoga is not only useful for maintaining a healthy body during pregnancy, but also preparing for childbirth and helping maintain fetal health.
During pregnancy, a woman's body will undergo various changes that can have an impact on health. One way to maintain health during pregnancy, both physical health and mental health is to do yoga for pregnant women.
Benefits of Yoga for Pregnant Women
Yoga for pregnant women can increase the strength and flexibility of the body. Yoga movements for pregnant women make exercise for pregnant women a good exercise to practice breathing and help the labor process become calmer, easier, and smoother.
Other benefits of yoga for pregnant women are:
- Promote blood circulation.
- Helps improve posture.
- Improve sleep quality.
- Reducing stress and anxiety, especially those related to pregnancy and childbirth.
- Relieve complaints in pregnant women, such as lower back pain, shortness of breath, headache, pelvic pain, and nausea.
- Reducing the risk of pregnancy complications, such as giving birth to premature babies and low birth weight babies.
- Lowers blood pressure.
Apart from being beneficial for physical fitness, yoga for pregnant women that is done together with other pregnant women can support emotional conditions. Taking yoga classes for pregnant women can motivate pregnant women to continue to be active.
Rule Yoga Pregnant mother
The best time to start yoga for pregnant women is in the second trimester of pregnancy or 14 weeks and above. Although there are some gentle and safe yoga movements to do in the first trimester of pregnancy, pregnant women, especially those who have never tried yoga before, are advised to wait until the second trimester.
In doing yoga for pregnant women, pay attention to the following:
- Do yoga for pregnant women while accompanied by an instructor. Start slowly and gently, by practicing belly breathing.
- Take a deep breath in slowly through your nose until the air fills your stomach, then exhale slowly through your nose. This breathing exercise can reduce pain and make pregnant women can remain calm during childbirth later.
- Yoga movements for pregnant women are designed to stretch, not tense muscles. But remember, avoid poses that overstretch the muscles, especially the abdominal muscles. If you feel discomfort or pain, stop the exercise immediately.
- Avoid lying on your back for too long. Lying on your back can put pressure on the large blood vessels in the abdomen and reduce blood flow to the uterus. This position can also make pregnant women feel dizzy, short of breath, and nauseous.
- If you feel hot, nauseous, dehydrated, have stomach pain, discharge or blood from the vagina, stop exercising immediately.
- Yoga for pregnant women is recommended to be done 3-5 times per week for 30 minutes. Daily practice is also allowed, as long as it's not excessive.
Always provide drinking water when exercising, avoid excessive exercise, and don't push yourself. If you find it difficult to breathe or talk while doing yoga for pregnant women or other sports, it's a sign that the exercise you are doing is too heavy, so stop immediately and rest.
Given the condition of every pregnant woman is not the same, you should first consult with your obstetrician before deciding to join a yoga class for pregnant women. For pregnant women who have a history of miscarriage or complications in pregnancy, the doctor may suggest other exercise options.
