Top Health Tips on Having a Healthy First Trimester

Pregnancy was once considered a time for rest when women advised to refrain from physical activity/exercise as they were considered to be harmful for the mother and unborn baby. This view is challenged by several studies which found that physical activity in pregnancy is safe and has many benefits for the mother and baby.

How do I stay active during pregnancy?

If you were active for at least six months before your pregnancy, ask your doctor about whether you may continue your sports or workouts safely. As you move further into your pregnancy and your body changes, you may feel mild aches and pains due to looser joints and shifting of your body weight. You may need to revise your exercise program every trimester to reduce the risk of falls and limit high-impact activities.

If you have not been active before your pregnancy, start low and go slow. Try regular brisk walking, swimming, strength training for pregnant women, or other activities that will strengthen your heart and lungs and tone your muscles.

What are the benefits of exercise?

Regular exercise can:

Maintain cardiovascular fitness and improve circulation
Help maintain a healthy weight
Improve energy levels and sleep
Reduce stress, anxiety and depression
Lower the risk of varicose veins and swelling of extremities
Maintain strength and flexibility
Improve your balance, co-ordination posture
Reduce physical complaints e.g. low back pain and constipation
Prevent and treat pelvic floor dysfunction
Prevent and control gestational diabetes mellitus (a type of diabetes that affects women during pregnancy) and high blood pressure
Reduce the length of labour and delivery complications
Help in postnatal recovery
What type of exercise is best?

It should be something that you enjoy, feel comfortable doing and can work into your daily routine. Over-exertion may result in overheating which can affect the development of the baby, so exercise safely at a low to moderate intensity.

Low impact exercise is recommended to reduce strain on your joints. Examples include:

Walking
Using an exercise bike
Swimming
Using a cross-trainer
Aqua-aerobic classes
Low-impact aerobic classes
Endurance light weight training
Pelvic floor muscle training
Deep abdominal (transversus abdominus) muscle training
Antenatal Pilates
Antenatal yoga
What type of exercise should I avoid?

You should avoid high impact exercise, contact sports and other activities that may result in a heavy fall. Examples of exercise to avoid include:

running
cycling
jumping
step aerobics
ball sports
racquet sports
skiing
scuba diving
walking at high altitude
heavy weights
You should stop exercise and seek medical advice if you experience any unusual symptoms such as excessive shortness of breath, chest pain or palpitations, dizziness, painful uterine contractions, abdominal or pelvic pain and excessive fatigue.

Advice for exercising:

Stop and rest if you feel too hot
Avoid spas, saunas, solariums, and exercising in hot conditions
Drink water while you exercise
Don t exercise for more than 45 minutes at a time
Keep your heart rate below 150 beats per minute
Wear a supportive wireless bra, ideally with wide straps
Wear supportive shoes (trainers)
Wear loose, breathable clothing
Avoid extended periods on your back
Eat carbohydrates at least 30 minutes before exercising
Which pregnant women should avoid aerobic exercises?

Women with heart or lung disease
Women with a weak (incompetent) cervix and those who have undergone cervical stitching (cerclage)
Multiple pregnancy (twins/triplets) at risk of preterm labour
Persistent bleeding in second or third trimester
Placenta praevia (low lying placenta) after 26 weeks of pregnancy
Women with raised blood pressure in pregnancy
Severe anemia
Poorly controlled diabetes or seizure disorder
Poor growth of baby in current pregnancy (Intrauterine growth restriction)
Women with premature uterine contractions in current pregnancy

Are you gaining excessive amount of weight during your pregnancy, well you are not alone. Most of the pregnant women tend to be overweight or obese. You are viewed as overweight, if your pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) is approximately between twenty-five and twenty-nine. Your BMI is the relationship between your height and weight. You are considered obese, if your BMI is thirty or more.

However, here are some ways with which you can control the weight gain during pregnancy:

Eat a solid, yet less-calorie diet: Utilize a convenient pregnancy food journal to ensure you are getting enough supplements and drinking a lot of water every day. The journal is additionally helpful for keeping track of your mood swings and appetite levels, so you can spot patterns you may need to change. Since you realize that you have to take after a particular eating regimen, the following are very solid for you:
Crisp leafy foods
Oats and bread made with whole grains
Low-fat milk and dairy items
Foods rich in folate such as strawberries, spinach and beans
Unsaturated "good" fats such as olive oil, canola oil, and shelled nut oil
Regular exercise: In case you are a relative newcomer to work out, you can start with pregnancy exercise for beginners. You can practice low-impact exercises; for example, walking, swimming and light heart stimulating exercises. Never begin an exercise without first talking with your medicinal services supplier or doctor. Furthermore, make sure to you adhere to the thirteen principles of safe pregnancy work out. A few women do get in shape during pregnancy in case that they roll out solid eating regimen and make way for life improvements, so make sure to check in with your specialist if this happens.
Comprehend your calorie needs: As specified before, not all pregnant women have to put on equivalent measures of weight. Thus, you have to know precisely what number of calories you require. Talk with your specialist to get the correct number.
Eat frequent, small meals: This is true when you need to deal with your weight, pregnant or not. Eating successive little dinners is particularly helpful when you are pregnant. Eating a full feast makes you wiped out.
Taking prenatal pre-natal vitamins: This is something your specialist will recommend in any case. Yet, in case that you require an extra motivation to take your pre-birth vitamins consistent, then this is it. As you most likely are aware, your body needs additional food and nutrients during pregnancy. In case that you need to deal with your weight and take in the supplements without stacking yourself with calories, take your vitamins.
In case you have a concern or query you can always consult an expert & get answers to your questions!

Pregnancy comes with its host of hormonal shifts inside a woman s body. With severe hormonal changes, you may complain of a number of bodily pains and aches. This is absolutely normal and can be treated through physiotherapy.

Before you delve deep into the role of physiotherapy, let us see some of the common problems a pregnant woman might complain of:

Prenatal-

1. The most common complaint during pregnancy is of back pain. The growing baby means protruding belly (that disturbs the center of gravity of the expecting woman s body) and additional weight to be carried by the backbone. Physiotherapy can help you resolve this pain safely and early stage before it progresses to acute pain or sciatica.

2. The next thing you complain of is sciatica. Sciatica is basically a nerve which begins at your lower back and ends at the back of your feet. During pregnancy, there is a huge pressure exerted on it and due to continuous pressure, you may experience weakness or numbness.

3. Carpal tunnel syndrome or swelling of the nerves around your wrist is another major problem. Apart from these, you may suffer from weakness in the urinary tract and joint pain.

Postnatal-

You may experience postnatal physical problems, quite similar to the prenatal ones. Apart from that, abdominal separation or diastasis recti or bulging belly might also be a complication wherein you experience an excessive stretch on your abdominal muscles.

Physiotherapy Treatments-

1. For your prenatal symptoms, your physiotherapist will recommend you varied treatments such as soft tissue techniques, mobilization, stretch and strength exercises for your body. It is a good idea to take up a prenatal exercise program with a qualified physiotherapist to prepare your pregnant body for pregnancy and childbirth. This will usually include pelvic floor training, breathing and relaxation practices to keep you calm and strengthening exercises for muscles under strain due to pregnancy.

2. One of the most effective cures for treating your postnatal problems is the core-strengthening exercise program which can increase your physical and mental tenacity. A women s health physiotherapist can guide you with specific strengthening exercises for this.

3. For better functioning of the urinary tract, you may be recommended some pelvic-floor exercises.

Pregnancy brings with it a new set of additional responsibilities. The mother has to be extra vigilant about monitoring and caring for her health. This ensures that sufficient nutrition is being provided to the growing infant, at the same time, ensuring no harm comes to you. Listed below are some simple ways to do the same.

1. Prenatal care: As soon as you realize you are pregnant, it is advisable to talk to a doctor or a midwife about proper prenatal care. This could include anything and everything from prenatal vitamins to food habits to exercise to sleeping habits to periodic scanning and a number of other things that your doctor will prescribe.

2. Diet: You need to ensure two things that is you are eating enough for two people and everything is healthy and not harmful for the little one that gets all its nutrition through you. The diet should be healthy, nutritious, wholesome and of course free of junk. Some pointers to a healthy diet include:

a. Include a good amount of fruits and vegetables every day; break it into five small portions.
b. Sufficient amount of carbohydrates should be the basis of each meal.
c. Whole grains are preferred to white grains, which also give good amount of fiber.
d. A good amount of proteins including fish, eggs, meat, nuts, pulses, milk, and other dairy products.
e. Ensure adequate amount of iron, calcium, and other minerals are included in the diet.
f. Avoid eating unpasteurized dairy products, uncooked or undercooked food and smoked seafood.
g. While most vitamin requirements should be met through the diet, in some people, prenatal vitamins which provide the increased demands for folic acid.

3. Weight gain: If your weight was normal for your age and height before pregnancy, expect to add about 12 to 15 kg during your pregnancy. Consult with your doctor on weight changes and nutritional aspects to monitor weight throughout pregnancy. This could change based on if it is twins, your weight before pregnancy, and body type.

4. Exercise: Exercising during pregnancy is being increasingly encouraged for the following reasons:

a. Improved energy levels
b. Controls back pain
c. Improved sleep pattern
d. Improves constipation
e. Improves muscles strength and endurance
There are specific exercises designed to benefit the pregnant women. Whether it is walking or swimming aimed at improving overall health or Kegel exercises aimed at improving vaginal and perineal muscles, your doctor should be able to draw up a routine.

5. Lifestyle changes: With pregnancy setting in, it is time to bid goodbye to smoking and drinking alcohol. Continued smoking after onset of pregnancy has many serious complications, including growth retardation, low birth weight. Alcohol can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth and premature delivery.

These are simple ways to monitor and care for your and of course, the baby's health throughout pregnancy.

Advice for an expectant mother is plentiful to come around from family and friends. While it may be well intentional, it may not be the best advice possible. One of the things most people would advise is to avoid exercising as it may affect the health of the mother and the baby. This is in fact a very wrong advice as expectant mothers like everyone need exercise to stay fit and healthy. The only difference from normal people is that certain types of exercises may not be suitable for pregnant women and the nature of exercises may change from trimester to trimester.

Some of the best exercises during pregnancy

Swimming: This one is in fact recommended by doctors as the best and the safest exercise for pregnant women. Swimming is beneficial because of the following reasons:
It has immense cardiovascular benefits
Large muscles groups are exercised in the process
Helps reduce swelling and inflammation
Helps with low back pain and relieves the stress on your spine which is caused due to the extra weight you are carrying around.
Walking: This is one of the safest exercise during any trimester as long as you don t over exert yourself. Walking promotes blood circulation, improves heart health and is all around a good exercise for pregnant women. The key is to invest in a good pair of shoes for walking so as to prevent the knees and legs from jarring and also to support your upper body properly.
Stretching: In the later trimesters, it may be a little difficult to manage other exercises as your body becomes heavier and movement may bse limited. However, you can do basic stretching exercises to improve mobility and also help with circulation.
Weight training exercises: Certain exercises which utilize the weight of your body rather than external weight can be performed easily. You can also use lighter weights to help keep muscle tone and strength. A few examples of these exercises are
Side leg lifting: Lie on one side and lift one leg up slightly higher than hip height. You can use your forearm for balance in this case. Keep lifting the leg and hold it there for a few seconds and do the same motions a few times for repetitions.
Curling and lifting: Sit on a chair with your back straight with 2 to 4 kilo weights in each hand and curl up your hands up to the shoulders. Sit with your legs spread apart but comfortably. Also start the curl with your fore arms at a 90 angle from your elbows.
Yoga and meditation: Yoga is possibly one of the most well suited regimens during pregnancy. Pranayama and meditation can definitely help you be more at peace and also manage many of the changes happening in your body in a much better fashion.

Exercise after pregnancy can make a woman feel at her best. It can help her to lose extra pounds specifically when it is combined with reduced intake of calories. It will also boost her level of energy and relieve stress along with strengthening and toning abdominal muscles. Exercising regularly will also set a positive example for your baby so that he or she can imbibe the same and include it in their regime from an early childhood.
Workout and Breast-feeding: are they related?
Exercise is not deemed to have any negative effects on either breast milk composition or volume. It also doesn t affect the growth and development of a nursing baby. Though some researchers report that high-intensity weight loss training may cause accumulation of lactic acid in the breast milk causing a sour taste, but such instances are very rare and don t happen with regular free hand to moderate exercise.
If you are willing to indulge in vigorous exercise during the first few months of feeding your baby, you can feed him or her before exercising or pumping the milk before workout and feed it afterwards. Alternatively, you can take a shower after the workout and express a few drops of milk before feeding your baby.
When is the right time to start a workout?
If you had experienced an uncomplicated normal delivery, it is particularly safe to start exercising after a few days of giving birth or as soon as your body feels ready. If you had a complicated birth, or a C-section or an extensive vaginal repair, you should seek advice from a gynaecologist about the ideal time to start a workout program.
Activities that you may start with-
For the majority of healthy women, the Department of Health and Human Services suggests at least 150 minutes of moderate exercises or aerobic activity spanning through a week. You may start with a simple and low impact exercise such as a plain walk. You can even look for a post-partum workout class at a local fitness club, gym or community centre. Then you can proceed towards starting pelvic tilt and kegel exercises.
When you are nursing a newborn, getting enough time for routine exercises can be very challenging. Hormonal imbalance would bring about mood swings and some days you may feel too tired for a full-time work workout. out. However, you must never give up; speak with a health care specialist and seek the support of your partner and friends to stay motivated right through.

Exercising during pregnancy is beneficial not only for the expectant mother but also for the growing fetus. The effects of exercise at this time can be seen immediately and last a lifetime. Unless a woman suffers from a medical condition, she should have at least 20-30 minutes of moderate exercise a day when pregnant. Here are a few ways you can benefit from exercising when pregnant.

Energy Boosts- Carrying a growing fetus can take away a lot of your energy leaving you feeling tired and listless. Exercising strengthens your cardiovascular system and circulatory system this giving you more energy to get through the day. It also strengthens and tones your muscles so that the effort needed for any activity is reduced.
Improves your Sleep- Though exercise gives you a boost of energy, it also tires the muscles, thus making it easier to fall asleep at the end of the day. This is important, especially in the later stages of pregnancy where finding a comfortable position to sleep in becomes difficult.
Lower the Risk of Pregnancy-related Complications- Regular exercise when pregnant can help reduce the risk of suffering from complications like gestational diabetes and preeclampsia. Even if you are suffering from these complications, regular exercise can help manage the condition and treat it.
Reduce Discomfort- During pregnancy, your muscles shift and skin stretches to accommodate the growing fetus. Regular exercise can help strengthen the muscles and reduce the aches and pains associated with pregnancy. While walking can improve circulation, swimming strengthens the abdominal muscles.
Make Childbirth Easier- Childbirth is considered by many to be the most painful part of pregnancy. If you choose to have a natural delivery, it requires stamina, focus and determination. Exercise tones the muscles and build stamina thus making it easier to push the baby out. Exercise is also said to reduce the time taken for child birth.
Fight Stress- Pregnancy plays with your hormones a lot can lead to mood swings and depression. Exercise boosts serotonin or happy hormone levels. This helps raise your spirits and fight stress.
Get back into shape after childbirth- Pregnancy is characterized by weight gain that can be difficult to lose after child birth. However, if you exercise regularly when pregnant, this weight gain is restricted and the excess kilos are easier to lose. This is because your muscles have been toned throughout pregnancy and the weight gain is more muscle oriented than fat.

Hypertension or high blood pressure is very common disease. One is labeled as having hypertension when the patient's BP is more than 140/90.

Hypertension is of generally 2 types.

Essential hypertension: No particular reason is found. This is the most common type And usually due to life style habits.
Secondary hypertension: Here the BP goes up because of some other disease And once the main disease is treated the bp also becomes better.
Some causes of secondary hypertension are

Kidney diseases
Hormonal problems like thyroid disease, cushing s syndrome
Certain medications
Some rare tumors like adrenal tumors, pheochromocytoma etc.
Pregnancy
Alcohol abuse
Drug addictions
Complications

Uncontrolled hypertension for long period can cause life threatening diseases like

Heart attack.
Paralysis due to brain stroke
Kidney failure
Blindness
Treatment

Treatment consists of two parts.

Lifestyle changes
Medicines
Lifestyle changes include

Low salt diet
Eating fresh fruits and salads as at least one third of you diet as these are rich in potassium which helps to maintain low blood pressure.
Exercise daily, such as walking for at least 45 minutes everyday.
Medicine

That would depend whether you have essential or secondary hypertension.
In essential hypertension, No one medicine is for all. Your doctor will individualize the medicines as per your blood pressure, your blood report results and any Co existing disease like diabetes or kidney problem etc.
Goal of treatment

Is to keep your blood pressure below 130/80 at all times And to prevent complications.
Remember hypertension is deadly. However it can be easily managed. Lifestyle changes And medications complement each other. They do not substitute each other.
With proper individualization of lifestyle changes And medications you can enjoy a normal and healthy life.

Travelling during pregnancy - Is it safe?
Pregnancy places some restrictions on the expectant mother, and one of them is limiting travel so much so that most women do only the required and essential commutes and skip any other travel, including vacations and business travel, completely until delivery. However, with the lifestyle changing for the woman so radically, this is being revisited. The doctor s current advice is that unless there are potential complications expected or significant concerns, it is completely safe to travel.

The first trimester especially is a little tricky for travel, with the morning sickness. The second trimester is considered more ideal for travel, as the morning sickness and the feeling of being pregnant is sunk in, so the mother is comfortable. The third trimester is fine too, but the chances of fatigue are higher, and so travel is better avoided.

Read on to know some significant things to remember whether you are on a plane, train, or road during your pregnancy.
Car:

Always buckle yourself up as soon as you enter the car. Use both the seat belt and the lap belt.
Keep the air bags turned on.
Try to avoid travel time of four hours at a stretch.
When stopping for breaks, try to walk around a bit and stretch so that you do not feel the strain of sitting for long hours.
Plane:

Most airlines allow women to travel during the first eight months of pregnancy.
Some airlines do allow for travel during the ninth month, if the doctor approves it, or if there is an attendant with the expectant woman.
It is okay to walk through airport screening during pregnancy. There are some women who are apprehensive about this aspect.
Similarly the cabin pressure in the commercial planes reduces, but does not bear any significant impact for a pregnant woman.
Select an aisle seat, as it allows for easy seating and getting up.
Walking to the restroom and back should be carefully managed. The aisle is quite narrow and care must be taken to avoid hurting yourself.
Use the seats for providing support when walking through the aisle.
Especially, in turbulent stretches, try remaining seated, bearing in mind the safety aspects for yourself and the baby.
Other modes:

Traveling by bus is safe, but trips to the restroom would be difficult.
Trains are generally considered safer, as there is a lot of room for movement. Restrooms are available anytime, which is another major advantage.
Sea travel is also considered safe, but sea sickness could add to the nausea.
For long-term sailing, check with the cruise provider or the boat facility about availability of a healthcare provider on the ship.

Advice for an expectant mother is plentiful to come around from family and friends. While it may be well intentional, it may not be the best advice possible. One of the things most people would advise is to avoid exercising as it may affect the health of the mother and the baby. This is in fact a very wrong advice as expectant mothers like everyone need exercise to stay fit and healthy. The only difference from normal people is that certain types of exercises may not be suitable for pregnant women and the nature of exercises may change from trimester to trimester.

Some of the best exercises during pregnancy

Swimming: This one is in fact recommended by doctors as the best and the safest exercise for pregnant women. Swimming is beneficial because of the following reasons:
It has immense cardiovascular benefits
Large muscles groups are exercised in the process
Helps reduce swelling and inflammation
Helps with low back pain and relieves the stress on your spine which is caused due to the extra weight you are carrying around.
Walking: This is one of the safest exercise during any trimester as long as you don t over exert yourself. Walking promotes blood circulation, improves heart health and is all around a good exercise for pregnant women. The key is to invest in a good pair of shoes for walking so as to prevent the knees and legs from jarring and also to support your upper body properly.
Stretching: In the later trimesters, it may be a little difficult to manage other exercises as your body becomes heavier and movement may bse limited. However, you can do basic stretching exercises to improve mobility and also help with circulation.
Weight training exercises: Certain exercises which utilize the weight of your body rather than external weight can be performed easily. You can also use lighter weights to help keep muscle tone and strength. A few examples of these exercises are
Side leg lifting: Lie on one side and lift one leg up slightly higher than hip height. You can use your forearm for balance in this case. Keep lifting the leg and hold it there for a few seconds and do the same motions a few times for repetitions.
Curling and lifting: Sit on a chair with your back straight with 2 to 4 kilo weights in each hand and curl up your hands up to the shoulders. Sit with your legs spread apart but comfortably. Also start the curl with your fore arms at a 90 angle from your elbows.
Yoga and meditation: Yoga is possibly one of the most well suited regimens during pregnancy. Pranayama and meditation can definitely help you be more at peace and also manage many of the changes happening in your body in a much better fashion.
It is best to consult with a specialist or a physiotherapist who can give you a step by step guide as to the exercises you can do and the precautions that you need to take while performing them.