Pregnant women and young mothers tend to reduce or even stop all sports practice. However, regular physical activity is essential to their health and that of their baby. To encourage them to play sports, the government has published a guide to sports practice during maternity.
Sport is recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a determining factor in good health, including during maternity. Indeed, practicing regular physical activity allows you to take care of your body, to have a better lifestyle and to feel good. However, if women already devote less time to physical and sporting activities than men, motherhood, both before and after childbirth, further hinders their practice of sport. However, as recalled in the press release from the Ministry of Sports published in March 2021, “a moderate and regular PSA, during pregnancy in particular, nevertheless allows significantly reduce the risk of preterm birth or the subsequent risk of overweighteven obesity and presents real benefits for the foetus.
What are the benefits of exercise during pregnancy?
In 2021, the Minister in charge of Sports Roxana Maracineanu declared: “Maternity does not mean stopping all physical and sporting activity, quite the contrary!”. Many sports practices remain possible “until the end of your pregnancy, provided they are moderate”. And the benefits are multiple, she pointed out: “Whether it be to relax, tone up, control your weight gain, soothe minor ailments of pregnancy, you can and you must even continue to move, if your state of health allows it of course. Don’t forget that the development of the baby also depends on that of the mother!”.
Sport after childbirth: when, what benefits?
In general, about 6 weeks postpartumyou can resume gentle physical activities like brisk walking for example. At the end of your sessions perinatal rehabilitation, your midwife can also tell you what kind of activities to practice and which to avoid. The resumption of sport will help you in particular to reclaim your body (modified by pregnancy), strengthen your abdominal belt and your perineum, promote weight loss, sleep better, limit lower back pain and reduce the risk of anxiety and symptoms. postpartum depression. In short, maintaining a sporting activity when you are a young mother is good at all levels!
A guide to encourage future and new mothers to practice sport
The Ministry of Sports thus wished to publish a guide on the practice of physical and sports activities during and after childbirth, produced in consultation with experts (doctors, gynecologists and midwives). Why move during pregnancy? What activities can I practice, and how? This guide is full of advice on possible activities at different stages of pregnancy and after childbirth. You will also find exercises and movements that are simple and adapted to your condition (don’t hesitate to first fill out the aptitude questionnaire contained in the guide), your desires and needs. Inside you will also find all the recommendations and resources to find the sport that suits you and where to practice it near you (federations, Maisons Sports Santé map, etc.). Many sports federations have also developed systems specifically adapted to practice of physical and sporting activities by women during pregnancy and after childbirth.