Sedentary Behavior May Cause The 'Baby Blues' While Pregnant

A recent study showed us that certain resistance exercises and light physical activities are beneficial for most pregnant women. Now, a new study presented at the Society for Endocrinology's annual meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland emphasizes reducing sitting for extended periods during pregnancy in order to ward off any baby blues.

During the study, researchers examined 1,263 pregnant women who had to report on their level of physical activity and overall emotional well-being during the first trimester of pregnancy and at the end of the second trimester, according to Yahoo News.

Researchers discovered that pregnant women with more sedentary behaviors were more likely to report depressive symptoms. The study authors also took the womens' body mass indexes (BMI) and socio-economic statuses into account.

Women who were inactive during their first and second trimesters showed higher blood sugar levels around 28 weeks of pregnancy--greatly increasing their risk of gestational diabetes.

Being overweight during pregnancy can also increase a host of other health conditions, including the risk of miscarriage or stillbirth and preeclampsia, according to The March of Dimes--a potentially dangerous health condition during pregnancy that's characterized by high blood pressure.

"Encouraging women to take breaks from sitting down might be an easier public health policy to implement than increasing their physical activity during pregnancy," Study co-author Ponnusamy Saravanan, an associate clinical professor at Warwick, via Health Day. "We believe reducing the sitting time has the potential to reduce pregnant women's risk of gestational diabetes and reduce the metabolic risk factors of their newborns."

Research presented at medical meetings is typically considered preliminary because it does not receive the same scrutiny as studies published in medical or scientific journals.

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