Can You Use an Stationary Bike While Pregnant
Many pregnant women are skeptical about riding an exercise stationary bike while pregnant, as they are not sure whether it is safe or not.
In this article, we have discussed everything for every expecting mom out there should know regarding riding an exercising bike during pregnancy.
Is it Safe to Ride an Stationary Bike During Pregnancy
The most straightforward answer to this question is yes. Yes, it is safe to ride an exercise bike when you are pregnant.
According to the American Pregnancy Association, riding a stationary bike is safe during pregnancy as it helps to support your weight and keep you healthy and active during your pregnancy.
But never think of riding a regular bike while you are pregnant. That is because, while a stationary bike is safe and reliable, your changing center of gravity makes you more likely to fall from a regular bicycle and expose you to a severe accident.
The Benefits of Riding an Exercise Bike While Pregnant
Because of its incredible health and fitness benefits, doctors have suggested pregnant women ride on an exercise bike regularly. The amazing health benefits pregnant women can enjoy are:
Eases Discomfort during Pregnancy
When pregnant women often complain about discomfort in their bodies, expecting women often suffer from back pains, nausea, and fatigue and "not so active" women are more likely to suffer from these discomforts compared to the active women.
The primary and main reason behind these annoying problems is the changes in your body.
From hormonal changes to weight gain and feeling weak, during pregnancy, a woman’s body goes through a lot of changes, and that’s why they suffer from these discomforts more often than not.
Once you start working out on a stationary bike, your body becomes more active and effective.
An active body promotes more blood circulation and hence, helps your body to recover from the discomfort by removing more waste products and stretching the muscles to create more space between them.
Helps to Shorten Labor
As we have mentioned before, an active body helps your muscles to stretch, which in return improves your body flexibility and enhance your endurance level by several notches.
According to doctors, women with greater flexibility experience shorter labor making the birth process a lot easier than the norm.
Additionally, women who exercise and have great endurance levels have higher chances of vaginal delivery compared to less active mothers.
Reduces Stress and Depression
When you are an expecting mother and follow even the simplest of routines, your regular workout session gets your body moving and active.
As you pedal your exercise bike, your body becomes more active, and the blood circulation in the blood vessels increases, releasing more endorphin, a hormone produced by the pituitary gland to give you a sense of happiness and relief.
This increased level of endorphin offers pregnant women the peace of mind they deserve and prevents the build-up of stress and depression.
Aside from producing more endorphins, the increased blood circulation also helps you to get rid of exhaustion and insomnia easily and effectively.
Helps to Maintain the Weight and Shape of your Body
Pregnancy and weight gain go hand in hand. Because of your hormonal changes and regularly eating (eating for two), expecting moms experiences severe weight gain during the pregnancy period.
It might reach a certain level when it becomes alarming and makes you extremely concerned as extreme weight gain can be dangerous in some cases, especially if you suffer from joint pains or asthma.
Also, because of an increase in weight, your body blots and results in severe stretch marks, which have the potential to hamper your beauty and make you look “not so flattering.”
The best way to prevent such problems is to hop on your exercise bike and start pedaling.
No matter how slow you pedal, it will still burn some calories and keep your weight in check without risking you or your baby’s health.
This calorie-burning regimen would also keep your body shape somewhat fit and won’t let you grow out of size.
Decreases the Risk of Gestational Diabetes
Gestational diabetes (or pregnancy diabetes, however you call it) is a kind of diabetes that occurs only during pregnancy, especially during or after the 2nd trimester.
This special kind of diabetes causes hyperglycemia, which is identified as a super high level of sugar (glucose) in your bloodstream.
Gestational diabetes also imposes the risk of hypertension and cardiovascular problems and affects 3 to 10% of pregnant women as well as the baby.
When you start exercising on a stationary bike, it helps to reduce the high blood sugar level by several notches by burning them down as additional fat.
A decrease in blood sugar level would help you to minimize the adverse effects of Gestational diabetes and make sure you have a complication-less pregnancy.
What Safety Measures Should a Pregnant Woman take before riding an Exercise Bike?
Even though doctors say it’s fine to exercise on a stationary bike while you are expecting, there are some safety measures that you should follow to make your workout journey even safer and more delightful.
Talk to Your Doctor and Instructor
Before even thinking about working out, we would suggest you consult your doctor so that he/she can give you proper guidelines of how often you should exercise and things to avoid.
Also, don’t forget to talk to your instructor and get a proper exercise chart so that you not only stay fit during this time but also not harm your baby while working out.
Modify your Bike Set-up
When you are pregnant, your body continues to change. And that’s why you also need to modify the setting of your exercise bike at regular intervals to match your ever-changing body.
This would not only make sure that you are extremely comfortable but at the same time would also prevent you from facing any unfortunate accidents.
Hear your Body’s Signal
While working out during pregnancy, you should heed your body’s signal. You might be mentally motivated for an exercise session, but your body might not agree and possibly result in dizziness and weakness.
Whenever you don’t feel well while you’re riding, take a break, and take rest because there is nothing more important than your health, especially when you are pregnant.
Conclusion
So went through all discussion above, You may understand how important it is to use an stationary bike while pregnant. If you think you got desired information from this article, then we will be happy to know that. Best Of Luck
Reference
American Pregnancy Association
