Prenatal yoga can help relieve stress, improve fitness during pregnancy

Butterfly. cat Pointer dog. More than beautiful creatures, these are yoga poses that experts say can be part of a healthy pregnancy.

While moving that growing belly through a series of poses may seem like the last thing a pregnant woman would want to do, health experts say it’s high on the list of activities that can help her get through the body-changing experience of creating a new life.

“Yoga can be adapted to many health conditions,” said Dr. Erin Michos, director of the Women’s Cardiovascular Health Study and associate professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. “There are modifications that can be made to accommodate the physical limitations of pregnancy.”

Federal physical activity guidelines recommend that pregnant and postpartum women get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week, consistent with guidelines for all adults.

Michos, who co-authored a 2021 American Heart Association report on the relationship between physical and mental health, said yoga can give pregnant women many benefits for their exercise because it provides both physical and mental health. It’s generally safe during pregnancy if the woman is healthy and has a healthy pregnancy, she said.

“It’s a low-impact activity that many people can do,” Michos said.

Yoga has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety, which can contribute to complications such as premature births and low birth weight. It can also help lower blood pressure, which can be critical to maintaining a healthy pregnancy. Additionally, a 2021 analysis in the Journal of Maternal and Child Health found that prenatal yoga can shorten labor and reduce labor pain.

“Good mental health during pregnancy helps women cope better with their life situation during this period and also promotes better coping during and after childbirth,” said Patricia Martinez-Miranda, physical therapist and PhD student at the Universidad de Sevilla in Spain. She co-authored a 2023 analysis of International Journal of Environmental and Public Health Research that suggests prenatal yoga can improve the mental health of pregnant women, but that more research is needed.

“Yoga is a mind-body-spirit exercise that combines breathing techniques, meditation, and postures or movements that can be easily adapted to a person’s different needs and is used to manage a wide variety of immunological, neuromuscular, psychological, emotional and of pain,” she said.

However, there are some precautions pregnant women should take, Martinez-Miranda said.

All pregnant women should consult a health professional before starting any fitness program, said Dina Pinelli, a Long Island yoga instructor and three-time heart attack survivor.

Certain positions should be avoided, especially as the expectant mother’s belly grows, she said.

For example, positions that involve lying on your stomach should be avoided because they put pressure on the stomach. Likewise, any type of inversion where the head is lower than the heart, such as headstand, should be avoided because these positions force blood to move away from the heart. “Don’t do any of the things upside down,” Pinelli said, or anything that creates a risk of falling.

“No headstands or handstands because her balance will be thrown off by her growing belly,” she said. “You don’t want her to potentially fall, especially on her stomach.”

Using the wall for support or props like blocks can help with balance during pregnancy, Pinelli said. “When you reach down, reach for a block raised off the ground. It gives them more room for their bellies,” she said.

Blankets and pillows can also provide support, she said. “It also helps with comfort and relaxation, and that’s what the practice of yoga is all about.”

Some poses, such as child’s pose, will be easier to perform in the early stages of pregnancy, but should be abandoned as the pregnancy progresses, Pinelli said. “Further down is where they have to be a lot more cautious.”

Michos said that after 16 weeks, women should not lie on their backs for long periods of time because this can reduce blood flow to the heart, which in turn can reduce blood flow to the placenta.

Women with high-risk pregnancies may not be able to do yoga at all, she said.

“But for the majority of women, especially if they exercised and were active before pregnancy, they can continue that activity during pregnancy,” Michos said.