Prenatal Yoga: It’s Good for You and Your Baby

Photo courtesy of Donamari D'Andrea of Capture Fotography

Pregnancy causes many changes in a woman’s body.  These changes bring about fluctuations in hormones and can increase physical, mental, and emotional stress in the mother and the baby.  Studies have shown that prenatal yoga can ease many of the symptoms and stressors of pregnancy for the mother.  This, in turn, brings better outcomes for the baby as well. Prenatal yoga programs that combine community time, breath work (pranayama), relaxation (shivasana and/or guided meditation), and physical poses (asana) show the most promise for benefits.

A regular prenatal yoga program can improve the psychological health of the mother.  One study (1), showed a decrease in depressive symptoms for mothers diagnosed with prenatal depression through a prenatal yoga class.  Many of the symptoms of prenatal depression were relieved.  The researchers believe that yoga helped because it stimulated the facial muscles and the muscles that control tone of voice, and it improved the mothers’ sleep, appetite, fatigue, and stress levels.  A second study (5) agreed that prenatal yoga helped mothers’ depression.  Prenatal yoga was shown to help with both depression and anger.  Yoga also appeared to help regulate the hormones and heart rates of the pregnant women. 

Another study (2) showed significant improvements in stress and anxiety for pregnant women.  This study combined prenatal yoga with mindfulness training.  This intervention taught participants to stay in the moment as part of the prenatal yoga class.  Additionally, a study (4) showed a reduction in stress and improvements in the way the mothers handled stress.  While the stress of the yoga participants went down significantly, it actually rose in the mothers who did not participate in yoga.  This study also showed that breath work during yoga also reduces stress.  Several other studies have supported these findings of improved mental health during the pregnancy and delivery and after delivery as well.  Yoga improved the psychological health of the mother on both short term and long term outcomes.  This improved mental health also led to better outcomes for the children, as well.

Researchers have also shown a connection between prenatal yoga and lessening of pain and duration of labor (3).  Women who participated in prenatal yoga had less leg and back pain (5).  Prenatal yoga participants reported shorter labor and less pain than women who did not participate in prenatal yoga.  The breath work and mindfulness taught in prenatal yoga also helped women in other studies to relax and handle the stress of labor.  

Prenatal Yoga has also been shown to improve birth outcomes.  Babies whose mothers attended prenatal yoga had better birth weight and tended to be born at term, rather than early (3).  Mothers who attended prenatal yoga tended to have fewer complications than mothers who didn’t attend yoga (3).  Even those with high risk pregnancies who attended prenatal yoga were shown to have fewer complications for pregnancy and delivery, and their babies tended to be healthier (6).   

All of the studies showed that regular yoga practice was necessary to gain maximum effects from the activity.  Sonia, one of our prenatal students, is happy to attest to this as well.  She feels that regular prenatal yoga practice helped her enjoy her pregnancy and delivery.  She says she wouldn’t change a thing!

References

1. Mitchell, Field, Diego, Bendell, Newton, & Pelaez (2012).  Yoga Reduces Prenatal Depression Symptoms. Psychology, 3, 782-786.

2. Beddoe, Yang, Powell Kennedy, Weiss, & Lee (2009). The Effects of Mindfulness-Based Yoga During Pregnancy on Maternal Psychological and physical Distress.  Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, and Neonatal Nursing, 38, 310-319.

3. Curtis, Weinrib, & Katz (2012). Systematic Review of Yoga for Pregnant Women: Current Status and Future Directions. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2012.

4. Satyapriya, Nagendra, Nagarathna, & Padmalatha (2009).  Effect of Integrated Yoga on Stress and Heart Rate Variability in Pregnant Women.  International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics, 104, 218-222.

5.Field, Diego, Delgado, & Medina (2012). Yoga and Social Support Reduce Prenatal Depression, Anxiety and Cortisol. Yoga Physical Therapy, 2, 124.

6. Rakhshani, Nagarathna, Mhaskar, Mhaskar, Thomas, Gunasheels (2012).  The Effcts of Yoga in Prevention of Pregnancy Complications in High-Risk Pregnancies: A Randomized Controlled Trial.  Preventive Medicine, 55 (4), 333-340.