Presented at the 2005 ACSM Walking for Health: Measurement and Research Issues and Challenges Conference, October 13-15, 2005

Physical Activity Recommendations during Pregnancy: Is Walking Enough?

Danielle Symons Downs, Ph.D.,a Heather A. Hausenblas,b Ph.D., Jennifer M. Dinallo,a M.S., and Brian Cook, M.A.b

The PennsylvaniaState Universitya and University of Floridab

Pregnant women are encouraged to engage in regular physical activity (ACOG, 2002). Recent evidence suggests that the most common leisure-time activity for pregnant women is walking, followed by a combination of other activities such as swimming, resistance training, gardening, and aerobics (Evenson et al., 2004). Limited research, however, has longitudinally examined pregnant women’s activity patterns and the extent to which they are meeting exercise guidelines and obtaining health benefits throughout their entire pregnancy. Purpose.The purpose of our study was to prospectively examine the frequency of women meeting exercise recommendations during their first, second, and third pregnancy trimesters, and to compare the prevalence rates by activity type (walking-only or combination of activities). Methods.Pregnant women (N = 165; M age = 29.48 years; 87% Caucasian) were recruited from a women’s health center at their first prenatal visit; and they completed self-reported measures of their exercise type, frequency, and duration during their first, second, and third trimesters. Descriptive statistics, Chi Square, and one-way ANOVA were used to analyze the data. Results.Participants were categorized as meeting or not meeting exercise guidelines based on the ACSM (2000) recommendations. The frequency of pregnant women meeting the exercise guidelines were: (a) first trimester (25.5%), (b) second trimester (21.2%), and (c) third trimester (9.0%). No significant differences were observed for the frequency of women either meeting the exercise guidelines or for days of exercise/week across activity type. However, the women engaging in a combination of physical activities engaged in more total minutes of daily physical activity during all three trimesters compared to women who only walked. Conclusion.These preliminary findings illustrate that most pregnant women did not meet the current exercise recommendations across the pregnancy trimesters. In addition, our findings suggest that women who exclusively walked during their pregnancy exercised fewer minutes per day than women who engaged in a combination of activities. Future research is needed examining the association between pregnant women’s activity patterns (with objective exercise measures) and health outcomes to better understand these prevalence rates and to determine if walking provides sufficient health benefits to pregnant women.