Exercise for Women Pregnant

Exercise for Women Pregnant
By : Raymond Kelly

There are many benefits for women who wish to exercise through their pregnancy.

Exercise can:

· Increase energy levels
· Help prevent feelings of discomfort, clumsiness, and unattractiveness
· Improve circulation, reduce swelling and formation of varicose veins in the lower legs
· Help tone muscles allowing the body to return to its pre-pregnancy state much faster
· Improve posture, so less back ache

The major concerns of training whilst pregnant are:

· Foetal hypoxia (lack of oxygen for the baby)
· Foetal hyperthermia (internal temperature gets too hot)
· Reduced carbohydrate supply to the foetus (baby doesn'tget enough food)

These should only be concerns if the mother does not exercise intelligently. Ask your doctor for further information when obtaining your medical clearance.

Guidelines:

· Obtain a medical clearance prior to commencement
· Never let your heart rate get over 135 beats per minute for a sustained period. This can vary from person to person but a good rule of thumb is to reduce the intensity if you cannot comfortably hold a conversation with someone whilst exercising.
· Balance will be a problem as you get bigger so always keep both feet on the ground (no jumping, skipping, lunging, stepping, etc).
· Non-weight bearing exercise (eg. Cycling, swimming) is preferable to weight bearing exercise (eg. Jogging).
· Exertion levels should be determined on an individual basis. Someone who has had a long exercise history and a high fitness level will be able to tolerate higher intensities without affecting the foetus.
· Avoid strenuous exertion during the first trimester. If you haven't exercised before, walking is a great way to start.
· Increases in exercise quantity and quality should be very gradual for previously inactive women.
· Avoid exercise or positioning of the individual in the supine (lying on the floor face up) posture, particularly in late gestation (due to decreased cardiac output).
· Avoid exercise in warm/humid environments.
· Drink liquids before and after exercise to avoid dehydration. Wear loose cotton clothing.
· Do not exercise when fatigued, particularly in late gestation. Never exercise to exhaustion.
· Periodic rest intervals may be helpful to minimize hypoxia or heat stress to the foetus.
· Pregnancy requires an increase of 300k/cal per day so if you are exercising you require even more. Ensure you have an adequate diet.

News

If You're A Woman Over 25, You Should Eat These Foods To Prevent Diseases That Claims Most Women's Lives

By : Naweko San-Joyz
Do you keep your health care plan in the fridge? It's not a bad idea actually because if you pick your foods the right way, you can pack heart disease, colon cancer, osteoporosis, and diabetes prevention all in a day's worth of groceries.

Heart Disease
It kills nearly 500,000 women a year. The American Heart Association warns that heart disease, including stroke, claims more women's lives than the next six causes of death combined. Yet few women realize their risks for heart disease.

Hip 30-something singer Toni Braxton thought her chests pains were just from parenting stress before she discovered that she had heart disease. While the singer is OK now, she's getting the word out about heart disease as the spokeswoman for the American Heart Association's "Go Red For Women" campaign.

If you want to be heart smart, you need to be food wise. For example, according to the Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter, a diet loaded with whole grains may lower your risk of developing heart diseases.

Another clinical research from the Archives of Internal
Medicines found a link between increased dietary fiber and reduced blood pressure. In short, more fiber may reduce hypertension and thus lower the blood pressure.

Where to get fiber and whole grains:
Apples, grapes, celery, whole grain bread and cereal (make sure that sugar is not a main ingredient), whole-wheat pasta, popcorn, barley, oats and oatmeal, rye, corn, brown rice, bulgur or cracked wheat, and wheat germ.

Colon Cancer
The fiber gleaned from a whole oat rich diet also reduces the risks of developing colon cancer. Similarly in animal studies, selenium has shown anti-cancer benefits. Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health noted that calcium limits the development of rectal lesions, which could become cancerous.

Where to get calcium and selenium:
Broccoli, bran, brown rice, cottage cheese, garlic, onion, Brazil nuts, molasses, eggs, yogurt, celery, tahini, kidney beans.

Osteoporosis
Are you going to scream if someone else tells you to drink your milk to make your bones strong? While calcium has hoarded the spotlight for osteoporosis prevention, Dr. Alan R Gaby points
out in the Townsend Letter for Doctors & Patients, that magnesium, manganese, and zinc are just as important in the fight against osteoporosis.

Where to get them:

Magnesium:
Almonds, bran, oat, hazel nuts, pecans, lentils, sunflower seeds.

Manganese:
Avocado, walnuts, pineapple, buckwheat, parsley, spinach

Zinc:
Cheese, raw cashews, egg white, sunflower seeds, macadamia nuts, wheat germ

Diabetes
Christine Gerbstadt, M.D., R.D., spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association suggests limiting your risks for diabetes by consuming orange and leafy green veggies. Adding on a high quality fiber rich cereal can also limit your risk for diabetes.

Where to get orange and leafy green veggies:
Spinach, yams, papayas, peppers, rich green varieties of lettuce, lemons, parsley, cilantro

Here's a final reason to stash your health care plan in the fridge. A finding presented at the Annual Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology that analyzed the records from 2,857 heart attack survivors treated at Michigan hospitals found that men had a better chance of surviving after treatment
than women.

One reason for this could be that the women receive less one-on-one sessions with the doctors or nurses before going home. The lesson here is to put health in your own hands before you even need to use your health insurance.

Increase your chances of beating heart disease, colon cancer, diabetes, and osteoporosis now. It's as easy as buying apples, beets and carrots. I'll see you in the produce section.