Scientists report in the BMJ that women with healthy lifestyles during their first pregnancy are much less likely to experience complications such as high blood pressure or premature delivery. Some of these lifestyle factors can’t be changed (socioeconomic status, family history of hypertension during pregnancy, vaginal bleeding during pregnancy), but the investigators urge women planning to conceive to control blood pressure with exercise and follow a diet with plenty of fruits and vegetables and low in salt and alcohol. Cigarette smoking and recreational drug use are too obvious to belabor.
This news comes on the heels of a study presented at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting showing that mothers who exercised during pregnancy gave birth to babies with more mature brain function in the neonatal period. It’s high time for our culture to stop treating pregnant women like delicate creatures and start cheering as they run, or walk, through a healthy pregnancy.
