Exercise and pregnancy

For 25 years, Dancing Thru Pregnancy (DTP), a Connecticut-based fitness program, has noted that their participants fall far below national averages in risks such as emergency cesarean, preeclampsia and low birth weight. While their cesarean births are at 11 percent, the rate for the rest of America is 25 percent and rising. Now, recent research validates what the group has known all along.

DTP has long known that the right combination of activities--aerobics, special strength and flexibility exercises, centering, breathing and relaxation--are all necessary. "Different types of exercise benefit different aspects of pregnancy, such as the need for strength and stamina, as well as the need to focus, work with the body and relieve discomforts," notes Peggy DeZinno, a faculty member of the DTP instructor training and Academy of Childbirth Educators. Other benefits reported in research literature include better physical tolerance of labor for mother and baby as well as reduced excess weight gain and risk of postpartum depression. Group support, a key element in all DTP fitness programs, appears to be an essential component in preventing postpartum depression. Findings also suggest a pregnant woman's physical activity regimen can help prevent the development or reduce the severity of future cardiovascular disease in her offspring.

"While benefits clearly occur any time women begin exercise in early and midpregnancy, how much they benefit is related to how hard women work and how long they participate," says Ann Colwim, a movement specialist in Yale University's Athletic Department as well as DTP's founder and director. With this in mind, DTP is currently developing a new program for women who are planning to become pregnant.

To learn more about DTP, including upcoming instructor-training seminars, visit www.dancingthrupregnancy.com.

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