Supporting women to be active around pregnancy

Research shows that being active around pregnancy, in other words ‘before, bump, birth and beyond’ can have long term health benefits for women and their babies.

The UK Chief Medical Officer’s advice offers a guide to not only how much activity adults generally should be doing, but also offers specific information about recommended activity levels during pregnancy.

The choice about HOW to get active though is a personal one for women to make with guidance from the healthcare professionals supporting them individually.

This page is designed to help with that choice by offering information and inspiration about ways to get active.

We will be adding to this page in the coming days and weeks. So please bookmark it as one of your go-to resources.

Pregnancy activity during the COVID-19 outbreak

You can read the latest advice and research from the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists regarding this here.

At this time, more than ever, staying active has an important part to play in making sure women stay physically and mentally healthy during their pregnancy.

However, with some pregnant women preferring to stay home, we’ve identified a need to provide specific resources to cater for them to allow them to #StayInWorkOut and get all the benefits of exercise, even in these unusual times.

 

Free at-home video workouts

We’ve teamed up with Improving Me – Cheshire and Merseyside Women’s and Children’s Services Partnership, Cheshire and Merseyside Maternity Voices Partnership and Active Cheshire to commission free-to-access at-home pregnancy exercise videos by the fantastic Juanita Steel.

To access the workouts go to Juanita’s YouTube channel and look for workouts marked ‘BeFit4Baby’/Mum-to-be/Pregnancy (N.B. other workouts which are NOT designed for pregnancy are available on this channel, so please make sure you select the ones which are marked as suitable)

The legal bit
For most women pregnancy doesn’t mean they can’t carry on being active or even start being more active. If a woman isn’t sure whether she’s safe to exercise, then she should check with her midwife.

The suggested activities are designed to help women feel good, but it’s really important that women listen to their body and their baby. We want women to enjoy physical activity, so if they are uncomfortable with the activity at any point, they should stop or take a break or stop if they need to. 

Before starting exercise women are advised to take a moment to make sure there’s a clear space around them, with nothing nearby that could cause a trip, slip or fall.

The suggested activities this page signposts to have all been chosen with pregnancy in mind. However, if women choose to take part in any of them it’s important that they understand they do so at their own risk.

Image credits:
senivpetro, jcomp and wavebreakmedia at www.freepik.com

 

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