The Power of Pregnancy Fitness: How Prenatal Exercise Makes Your Baby Smarter & Healthier
I’ve been active my whole life. I’m certainly no athlete, and I don’t particularly enjoy the burn as others do. Exercise was always about vanity for me. I mean, who doesn’t like to have a thigh line in short shorts?
And then I got pregnant.
“Why should I keep working out?” I wondered. “I’ll gain weight and get big either way.” A bit of research told me that exercise would not only assist with the easy pregnancy and birth that I wanted, but it would also MAKE MY BABY SMARTER AND HEALTHIER AS WELL. I was amazed, and certainly found the motivation to stick with my fitness routine. For the first time in my life, I worked out for health rather than looks, and boy am I glad that I did. While there are many advantages that exercise brings to us moms, this post is going to focus on how your daily movement improves the long term health and wellbeing of your baby, and how we can safely incorporate it into our pregnancy lifestyles.
BENEFITS TO BABY
Better Oxygen Flow = Better Development
Your heart rate increases during exercise, leading to enhanced blood circulation throughout your body, including the placenta, the organ that delivers oxygen and nutrients to your baby. By increasing your blood flow, you flood your little one with an ever greater supply of the very nutrients, hormones, and oxygen she needs to grow and develop. Remember, your baby is made out of nutrients, so the more she gets, the better her mental and physical development will be. You might be eating liver and kale like a nutrition goddess, but movement is the catalyst that helps those nutrients get to your baby efficiently.
2. How Prenatal Exercise Benefits Your Baby’s Brain Development
Speaking of mental development, exercise will literally make your baby smarter. Studies show that babies born to active mothers have higher levels of neurotrophic factors, proteins that support the growth and survival of neurons in the brain. This leads to improved cognitive functions such as better learning and memory skills, and a decrease in anxiety-like behaviors.
3. Reduced Risk of Obesity
It’s hard to say whether this benefit stems from nature or nurture. Either way, studies prove that your prenatal fitness routine lowers your child’s risk of obesity.
This one makes intuitive sense, don’t you think? I come from an army family. We grew up watching our parents lift weights and go on morning runs. It was a treat to accompany dad to the gym, and he certainly enjoyed showing us kids how each machine worked. By the time we reached adulthood, fitness was an essential part of our lives. Now as adults, all of us siblings live healthy, active lifestyles and that is in no small part due to the example set by our parents. And while my siblings and I are a small sample size, it certainly goes to show that your no-excuses habits during pregnancy can really shape how your kids view exercise in the long term.
4. Enhanced Resilience to Stress
Pregnancy stress is absolute poison to a developing fetus. The stress hormone cortisol disrupts Baby’s brain development, making the poor thing hypersensitive to hardship. This can later manifest as depression, psychosis, or even heart disease. Tragically, these problems are likely to continue into adulthood.
How does exercise help? Endorphins! The “feel good” hormones released during physical activity reduce your own stress levels, which in turn lowers your baby’s exposure to cortisol. A 30-minute sunshine walk is all you and your little one need to reap these important benefits.
5. Improved Cardiovascular Health
Everyone knows that exercise helps with cardiovascular health, but you’re not the only one who enjoys this benefit - your baby does as well! Infants born to mothers who engage in regular exercise have healthier hearts and blood vessels, which lowers their risk of cardiovascular diseases later in life. One 2015 study showed that children born to active mothers have increased cardiac function just one month after birth, potentially leading to better weight regulation, mood, immunity, and higher cognitive function years down the road.
HOW TO EXERCISE SAFELY DURING PREGNANCY
So exercise has its advantages. But can’t it be dangerous too? It certainly can. Which is why it’s important to listen to your body, stick with low-impact movements, or even follow a coach or pregnancy fitness program.
Listen to your body
You’ll know if something feels “off.” Pay attention to your body's cues and modify your exercise routine as needed. If you experience discomfort, dizziness, or shortness of breath, stop moving, breathe deeply, and call your healthcare provider if the symptoms continue.
You might be used to running half marathons on the weekends, but if you have difficulty speaking or catching your breath, it’s time to switch to a lighter routine. As much as you want to stay active, this is NOT the time to push yourself! The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists reports that 30 minutes of activity is enough for your baby to reap the promised rewards. If you can still do a 13-miler without issue, good for you! But if you need a rest, be assured that 30 minutes is plenty.
2. Choose low-impact activities
Ok, this one’s a no-brainer but still worth repeating. Walking, swimming, modified Pilates, and gentle strength training are easy ways to get your 30 minutes in. Walking is my favorite go-to when my body says “no” to everything else. While I’ve had issues with jogging, and even strength training at times (ugh, those backaches 😭), walking has never been a source of pregnancy pain for me. And it certainly brings those stress-reduction benefits I mentioned above!
3. Find a program
Look, I’m not qualified to teach prenatal fitness, I’m just here to help you have a happy healthy baby. That being said, I REALLY encourage you to find an online program or even an in-person instructor so you can safely continue to exercise right up until delivery day. If you’ve been around Ecco for a while, you know that I LOVE GlowBodyPt. Ashley Keller is a perinatal fitness coach, natural birth mom, and her online program is 100% FREE. I’ve used it in both my pregnancies thus far, and it’s really helped me maintain my muscle tone in a safe and healthy way.
4. Ignore the myths
Whoever came up with the “exercise causes miscarriage” myth needs to retire. This fabrication consistently incites unnecessary fear in expectant mothers. The truth is that moderate exercise will not only HELP your baby, as described above, but it will also increase the health of your pregnancy, lowering your chances of complications in the delivery room.
Isn’t this topic amazing?! We all know exercise helps us, but during pregnancy it benefits our growing babies as well! From intelligence to mental and physical health, just 30 minutes every day can help them grow into the smart, happy little people we already adore.
P.S. If you liked this article, you will LOVE the Ecco Natural Birth course! All the tools you need for a healthy pregnancy and ENJOYABLE natural birth in one fun class. Check it out here!
SOURCES
Robinson AM, Bucci DJ. Maternal Exercise and Cognitive Functions of the Offspring. Cogn Sci (Hauppauge). 2012;7(2):187-205. PMID: 26664667; PMCID: PMC4671504.
Kusuyama J, Alves-Wagner AB, Makarewicz NS, Goodyear LJ. Effects of maternal and paternal exercise on offspring metabolism. Nat Metab. 2020 Sep;2(9):858-872. doi: 10.1038/s42255-020-00274-7. Epub 2020 Sep 14. PMID: 32929233; PMCID: PMC7643050.
Blaize, A. Nicole, Pearson, Kevin J., Newcomer, Sean C. Impact of Maternal Exercise during Pregnancy on Offspring Chronic Disease Susceptibility. American College of Sports Medicine, 2015.
