The Expectant Father: The Ultimate Guide for Dads-to-Be (The New Father Book 1)

by Armin A. Brott

If your partner wasn’t physically active before pregnancy, this isn’t the time for her to take up rock climbing or start training for a marathon. That doesn’t mean, however, that she should spend the entire pregnancy on the sofa. Getting exercise is critical (the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—CDC—recommends thirty minutes per day of moderate exercise). It will help improve her circulation and keep her energy level high. Exercising during pregnancy may also help your partner keep her weight gain steady and reasonable, help her sleep better, improve her mood, and reduce some of the normal pregnancy-related discomforts. Plus, it will improve her strength and endurance, both of which will come in very handy during labor and delivery. Researchers James Clapp and Elizabeth Noble found that women who exercise during the pregnancy have shorter labors and give birth to healthier babies. Others, including Bradley Price, have found that exercise may even lessen the chance that your partner will deliver prematurely, have complications during labor, or need a Cesarean section. Finally, there’s Canadian neuroscientist Dave Ellemberg, who found that compared to couch-potato expectant moms, pregnant women who did twenty minutes of moderate exercise (leading to slight shortness of breath by the end) three times per week had babies with “more mature cerebral activation.” Translation: their brains developed more quickly. Ellemberg believes that those