ABSTRACT
Background: Unless advised otherwise by their doctor, pregnant women should get approximately 30 minutes of moderate exercise on most days. However, most pregnant women do not exercise regularly and do not meet the American College of Obstetricians Gynecology's standard for the minimum amount of exercise needed to stay healthy during pregnancy.
Purpose: We investigate the factors related to regular exercise among pregnant women and describe the type, duration, and change in regular exercise from prepregnancy to pregnancy in Taiwan.
Methods: Pregnant women (N = 692) completed a questionnaire on exercise habits and were then grouped into regular exercise (105, 15.2%) and nonregular exercise (587, 84.8%) groups. Demographic and exercise-related variables were then investigated for their association with exercise during pregnancy.
Results: Work status, prepregnancy exercise, and trimester were significant predictors of regular exercise during pregnancy. The most commonly reported exercise types were walking, climbing stairs, and yoga. Nearly four fifths (n = 526, 76.0%) of participants did not exercise regularly before pregnancy, whereas 42.9% of participants continued exercising regularly after becoming pregnant. Among those who were inactive before pregnancy, 10.1% began exercising after becoming pregnant. In contrast, 57.1% of participants who had been more active before pregnancy stopped exercising regularly after becoming pregnant. Overall, it was found that participants decreased their amount (minutes x times/week) of exercise compared with their prepregnancy amount.
Conclusions: Results suggest that walking and climbing stairs, each beneficial to the health of pregnant women, are the most common types of regular exercise engaged in by pregnant women in Taiwan. Regular exercise benefits the health of pregnant women. The findings of this study may be useful to doctors and nurses responsible to counsel pregnant women to exercise regularly and to have a reasonably active lifestyle during pregnancy.