Benefits For The Unborn Child

Increased physical health scores, immediately upon birth and lasting into adulthood.

Babies of women who exercise have higher Apgar scores of physical health immediately upon birth.  The Apgar score was devised as a method to quickly assess the health of a newborn immediately upon childbirth.  It is a health assessment that includes skin color, pulse rate, reflexes, muscle tone, and respiration at the first and fifth minute of life.  The score determines if the baby needs immediate medical care.  A higher Apgar score means the baby is healthier.

Even five years after birth, children of women who exercised were in better shape than children of mothers who did not exercise.  In sum:  Exercise = higher score of health.

Increased intelligence scores for life.

Ten years of Dr. Clapp’s research is detailed in his book, which reveals that mental performance and physical attributes are significantly better in babies of women who exercised during pregnancy.  Here are some of those findings:

• Infants of exercising women do significantly better on the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID), which are used to diagnose infants for cognitive, motor, and behavioral development.
• Studies show babies born of exercising women do better on standardized intelligence, general intelligence, and oral language tests at one year of age and after.

Exercise increases baby’s nutrients and removes baby’s toxins.

Among the many important changes that exercise causes in the pregnant body, placental upgrades provide direct benefit to the baby. Clapp’s studies show that placentas of moms who exercise regularly through early and mid pregnancy grow faster and function better than the placentas of those who don’t exercise.  The placentas functioned 15% better, including 15% more blood vessels and surface area. Varney’s Midwifery says that these changes cause “considerable benefit…in delivering oxygen and nutrients to the fetus.”

What comes along with increased blood flow is increased toxin removal, the other major feature of a better-functioning placenta.  A smaller placenta would mean that toxins are not pumped out efficiently.   Sherry Rogers, M.D., author of Detoxify or Die, writes, “There is now no question that these accumulated toxins are behind nearly every disease, symptom, injury, and malfunction of the body.”

Fewer fetal interventions.

Moms who exercise were rewarded by “a marked decrease in the need for all types of medical intervention,” says Clapp. Varney reports similar reductions in medical interventions.  His studies show that exercising moms, and their babies, enjoyed these specific benefits:

• “A 35 percent decrease in need for pain relief”
• “A 50 percent decrease in need to artificially rupture the membranes”
• “A 50 percent decrease in need to induce or stimulate labor” with the drug, Pitocin
• “A 50 percent decrease in need to intervene because of abnormalities in fetal heart rate”
• “A 55 percent decrease in need for episiotomy”
• “A 75 percent decrease in need for operative intervention (forceps or C-section)”

Fewer pregnancy complications.

• The exercising pregnant woman decreases her chance of:
• Gestational diabetes
• Excessive weight gain
• Pre-eclampsia
• “Overgrown” babies

Beneficial Maternal Side Effects Of Exercising During Pregnancy

Less maternal weight gain.

The guidelines for normal weight gain women remain at 25-35 pounds in America, although women around the world may gain less.  The current trend in “modernized nations” is the tendancy toward gaining more than the recommendation.  Moms who exercise have less weight gain and fat accumulation.  Clapp’s studies show that exercising moms were considered to have optimal and healthy weight gain.  They carried an average of 7 pounds and 3 percent less fat compared to women who did not exercise and their babies were healthier.

Less maternal labor pain.

“Women who continue regular weight-bearing exercise throughout pregnancy tend to have easier, shorter, and less complicated labors,” writes Clapp.  Varney says that women who exercise spend less time in the active first stage labor (until 7cm dilation) and a shorter time in the second stage labor (pushing phase).  Clapp’s studies found that the overall length of labor was cut by one-third in women who exercised in comparison, to those who did not exercise.

During exercise, the same hormones that decrease the pain of labor are also generated.  First the adrenal glands learn how to produce catecholamines (epinephrine/adrenaline, norepinephrine/noradrenaline, and dopamine).  Exercise causes a surge of catecholamines.  One 2008 study in Sports Medicine highlights the fact that exercise actually increases one’s capacity to produce them.  The authors write, “…physical training can increase the capacity to secrete adrenaline via an increase of the adrenal gland volume and adrenaline content.”  The researchers add, “For some [research] authors, this phenomenon can partly explain the higher physical performance observed in trained compared with untrained subjects.”  In the Journal of Perinatal Education, Judith Lothian, PhD, RN, writes, “As the baby moves down the birth canal…catecholamines are released.”  Nurse Lothian says that the surge in catecholamines creates an energy boost for the mother and baby.

-Second, exercise improves mom’s pituitary-hypothalamus gland connection to produce another class of hormones called endorphins. Endorphins are nature’s pain relieving opiates.  They can be released in response to pain, danger, or other forms of stress. Their job during childbirth is to induce feelings of pleasure and euphoria and likely play a role in reducing risk of post-partum depression.  Exercise physiologist, Greg Landry says “After several months of regular exercise, you develop an increased sensitivity to endorphins.” What this means, says Landry, is that the body learns to receive a “higher high” from the same level of endorphins.  He also reports that the endorphins one learns to produce from exercise tend to stay in one’s blood for a longer period of time, making longer exertion easier because one is not feeling pain.

-Third, exercising moms may teach their hypothalamus-pituitary gland connection how to produce the neurotransmitter, oxytocin.  Oxytocin is the chemical for love, orgasm, trust, and pair bonding.  WhattoExpect.com calls oxytocin, “pregnancy’s muscle-contracting hormone.”  Oxytocin floods the woman’s system, especially after natural drug-free and non-surgical birth, because it is stimulated by distention of the cervix and vagina during labor.  A 2005 study posted on PubMed.gov concludes “training increased OT (oxytocin)” in rats.  Another study from a 2007 issue of Regulatory, Integrative and comparative Physiology concludes, regular “exercise significantly enhances cardiac OT [oxytocin and other hormonal systems], thus implicating all three hormonal systems in the beneficial effects of exercise training.”

Less maternal pregnancy discomfort.

Varney says that exercising during pregnancy decreases chances of feeling pregnancy discomfort, weakness, lack of stamina, and depression.  The exercising moms have increased immune function and increased energy, adds Clapp.  He writes, “Women who exercise regularly during pregnancy maintain positive attitudes about themselves, their pregnancies, and their upcoming labor and delivery.”

“There is no documentation of detrimental fetal outcomes in women who participate in regular moderate- to high-intensity exercise.” - Varney’s Midwifery

Unfortunately, although exercise has never been linked with any pregnancy complications, it is often first to be dropped if any concerns arise.  Varney’s midwifery discusses the irony of the recommendation to stop exercising when pregnant.  The text reports that women told to bed rest for three weeks or more suffered higher levels of physical, emotional, and familial hardship.  In these cases, lack of movement actually caused the problems.

Varney, who is a Professor in the Yale School of Nursing Nurse-Midwifery Specialty, says that research supports that regular moderate exercise improves function without risk to baby, provided there is no life-threatening disorder.