Exercise is a vital part of a healthy lifestyle and should be encouraged by obstetrician-gynecologists and other providers of obstetric care. Exercise is defined as physical activity consisting of planned, structured, and repetitive bodily movements performed to improve one or more components of physical fitness. Women who were physically active prior to becoming pregnant or who regularly engaged in vigorous-intensity aerobic activity are able to continue doing so during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Pregnant women who exercise demonstrate advantages such as a reduction in gestational diabetes, caesarean and operative vaginal births, and postpartum recovery time. In the postpartum period, women’s depressive disorders can be prevented in part by physical activity. Although some alterations to exercise regimens may be required due to typical anatomical and physiological changes and foetal requirements, physical activity and exercise in pregnancy are associated with little hazards and have been found to benefit the majority of women.
