7 Benefits Of Swimming During Pregnancy
Swimming during pregnancy is one of the most recommended practices, especially due to the ability of water to cushion the entire weight of the body. Precisely this property allows pregnant women to easily make movements that are difficult for them out of the water. That same pressure prevents you from making sudden movements, which in turn greatly reduces the risk of injury.
The water also helps you feel relaxed, in addition to being light – even the weight of your belly –, which helps you release the tension that all pregnant women feel in their back. At the same time, a gentle swimming session improves muscle tone in the legs, pelvis and buttocks, which are vital during labor.
Swimming stimulates the circulatory system, which is favored by the horizontal position you acquire when you practice swimming, an exercise that prevents varicose veins, swelling and leg cramps, while increasing the resistance of your lungs without it being translate into physical fatigue.
Before starting your swimming lessons during pregnancy, go to the doctor
Although swimming is certainly one of the most recommended exercises for pregnant women, the ideal is that before signing up for classes you consult your doctor to assess your physical conditions, your family history and the conditions of your pregnancy. All this will help you determine the conditions of the physical activity that you will do underwater.
There are some aspects that your gynecologist should evaluate before you start swimming, as this exercise – although noble and complete – is contraindicated for women who have a high-risk pregnancy and also for those who are threatened with premature labor. It is also not a beneficial activity when the pregnant woman has placenta previa or delayed uterine growth, vascular problems or dilation of the cervix.
In addition to this, pregnancy, according to the specialists of the Spanish Heart Foundation, is not under any circumstances the ideal time to learn to swim or to resume physical activities after long periods of sedentary lifestyle. Hence the importance of doing a physical assessment before starting swimming lessons. It is also important that you do not exhaust yourself during physical activity but rather seek to move your body in a smooth and relaxed way.
Swimming during pregnancy relaxes you
If your trusted doctor recommends you to do some exercise during your pregnancy, you will discover that swimming in a pool brings many advantages for this period.
For example, one of the benefits of swimming is that it helps you relax your whole body, especially those areas that are overloaded by the weight of the baby, as it helps you redistribute the weight and also frees the joints.
Swimming also improves the cardiovascular system and gives a better tone to all muscles, as well as decreases circulatory edema. Swimming also helps you improve the flexibility of your body and acquire more physical endurance without this meaning exhausting your body.
Another benefit of swimming during pregnancy is that this physical activity helps you improve your emotional state, as it reduces stress and nervous tension. Being in the water also helps you get to know your body and better assimilate the changes that are taking place in it. In addition, its practice, which can be during classes of one hour, encourages social relationships and helps you prepare for the long-awaited moment of childbirth.
As you will see, the benefits of swimming are many, so many that doctors still cannot agree to establish how long it is advisable to swim when you are pregnant.
Some specialists indicate that swimming is good until the moment of delivery, since the water helps to improve the symptoms that are worse during the last months of pregnancy, such as cramps, the existence of swollen feet due to poor blood circulation, back pain due to the weight of the belly, among others.
However, there are doctors who recommend abandoning swimming lessons during the eighth month of pregnancy, as that is when there is a greater risk of losing the mucous plug during exercise, without you being aware of it. It is best to always consult your doctor and follow the instructions he gives you.
