Enjoy a fit and safe pregnancy

Preity Zinta showed the nation in Salaam Namaste how important, yet cool, it was to exercise during pregnancy. The concept of fitness during pregnancy existed much before that, but people stood up and took notice of it in the movie.

Rita Singha, a city-based physiotherapist says: "It was a rage in the metro cities a long way back, but in Ahmedabad it is still a fresh idea and slowly gaining strength. The number of expectant women opting for classes to remain fit has risen more than two fold."

Gynaecologist Dr Chirag Amin says that the number of women who want to remain fit during the nine months has gone up from a mere 5% of his patients to 20-30%. 

Dr Amin stresses that pregnant women should under no circumstances exercise without supervision. He explains, "When somebody exercises vigorously, the body produces lactic acid which is not good. The safest exercise that we ask pregnant women to do is walk but with regular breaks."

It is not just the numbers that have gone up but the demographics of the patients are also changing. Singha says that now she has a mixture of working women and housewives, even within the group of housewives, 20-30% are women who have worked at some point in their life. "This is one of the reasons for this drastic change," she says. Also, even those women who are not getting support from their family members are coming in for these exercises,  she adds.

Experts in the field say that these exercises are recommended in the second trimester of pregnancy. "In the first trimester 10-12% mothers miscarry naturally," explains Binafer Lalkaka, a fitness counsellor.

The exercises are of a mild nature, usually ranging from aerobics, yoga and cardio exercises. "We recommend light exercises, which are meant for circulation and lead the mother towards a natural birth," she says.

Says Singha: "During pregnancy, women face so much discomfort like back pain and indigestion. We try and get rid of those problems with stretches, squats and other exercises.”