Bun-in-the-Oven Myths vs. Facts
What every pregnant woman needs to know
Good Exercise
Thirty minutes or more is the recommended time for light to moderate exercise that healthy, pregnant women should be enduring every day. Only 1 out of 6 women in the US and Northern Europe areas actually complete this task. In 2014, there was a study done to learn about women’s experiences that completed resistance training regularly throughout their pregnancy. Seventeen pregnant women participated in individual, face-to-face interviews to record their experiences. Most women found that this exercise had a positive impact on their body and mind, it prevented most pregnancy related problems, and although new exercise barriers arose these women were able to overcome those barriers. The conclusion from this study was that if the benefits outweighed the barriers then the pregnant women strived to exercise (Petrov and Fagevik 2014).
Healthy Diet
A healthy diet is obviously important during pregnancy. Most people know that malnutrition is harmful and believe that women who become pregnant can eat as much food as they want. Unfortunately, when trying to feed two human beings instead of one, how many women really understand when enough food is actually enough? According to McDonald and Pullenayegum, excessive weight gain is a major contributor to maternal obesity as well as child obesity. This may be due to women who are undereducated about the appropriate amount of gestational weight gain. In order to help facilitate a clinical interaction between pregnant women and their health care providers these men developed a knowledge translation tool. For this study, 131 women completed a survey. Based on the results, McDonald and Pullenayegum found that health care providers, who used the knowledge translation tool, had higher satisfaction rates after their interactions with pregnant women. The women noted that they received a specific gestational weight gain number and now understand the consequences of overeating and excessive weight gain.
Breaking Bad Habits
Shots, Shots, Shots is probably not the best mentality if you are pregnant. Yes it is true that substance abuse is harmful for the unborn child. The nine months it spends in your tummy it is constantly developing, so anything you put in your body affects the baby’s body and brain. Substance abuse is a major public concern. Usually it is perceived to be one of the worse habits during pregnancy because of the effects on the fetus. Prenatal substance abuse is associated with several risk factors for the mother and the fetus. Problems for the mother include but are not limited to: gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, liver, and placenta problems. Fetus risks are: prematurity, congenital abnormalities, respiratory failure, intracranial hemorrhage, and underdeveloped brain (Jackson and Shannon 2013). 114 pregnant women that attended inpatient detoxification at the University of Kentucky Chandler Medical Center participated in a study of the perception of problem severity in substance abuse. They attended face-to-face interviews and were asked a series of questions regarding their own personal substance abuse and beliefs on the related risks. Most of these women understood that their substance abuse was going to affect their child; however, they did not fully grasp the severity of it. After discovering the truth about substance abuse during pregnancy, a majority of the women agreed to long-term treatment effective immediately.
In the book Freakonomics, written by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, there is a synopsis of a girl whose parents prefer for her to hangout at a friend's house which has a swimming pool rather than her friend's house where the girl's dad owns a gun. Most people would say that is a fair decision the girl's parents made; however, according to the data the "likelihood of death by pool is 1 in 11,000 whereas death by gun is 1 in 1 million plus" (Levitt & Dubner). So the percieved danger is actually less likely to occur than the seemingly safer choice. This is the same for pregnant women. You may believe that you are doing right by your baby when really you are doing wrong, or vice-versa.
What do Professionals say?
Myths vs. Facts
A journalist for WebMD, Katherine Kam, and a MD, Traci C. Johnson, spell out the most common fictional assumptions in an article called, The Top 7 Pregnancy Myths. Almost every woman who is trying to become pregnant has attempted to research the facts versus the myths for pregnancy. In this article, Kam and Johnson explain what each myth is and why it is not true. Myths are usually created by someone who did something and found that it either worked or did not work for them. This does not mean that it applies to everyone. What works for you (or does not work for you) may not work for your neighbor (or may work for her). We understand that some myths have the potential of being in everyone’s best interest, but according to Johnson myths can be just as harmful as they are helpful. Johnson says that all myths are not just entertaining, but that “some prompt unnecessary worry while others can pose real health complications for mothers or their babies” (Kam 2005). To see what is perceived as harmful for pregnant women but actually is not, check out the Myths vs. Facts page by clicking on the continue button now.
Extra! Extra! Read All About It!
We can never have enough information on interesting topics that pertain to almost half of the population. Studies are being done every day in order to learn more about ourselves and the world we live in. Below are more sources that you can check out and read yourself to give you more insight on the given topics.
1. Good Exercise: Do you think exercise can help improve the mood of a pregnant woman? Read Influence of a Single Physical Exercise Class on Mood States of Pregnant Women, by Guszkowska et al., to learn about an experimental study involving pregnant women, good exercise, and it's influence on their moods.
2. A Healthy Diet: Are sociodemographic characteristics and lifestyles correlated with a diet (healthy or unhealthy) of a pregnant woman? In this article (linked to the Read More button at the end of this paragraph), written by Maria Vidal et al., we find that maternal age, education, having healthy habits, and country origin are all correlated with the components of a healthy or unhealthy diet.
3. Breaking Bad Habits: It is common knowledge that smoking harms our bodies, but can smoking harm a baby's development in the womb? In the article, Effects of Tobacco Smoking during Pregnancy on Oxidative Stress in the Umbilical Cord and Mononuclear Blood Cells of Neonates, a study shows that cigarette smoking can damage the development of the umbilical cord if the mother smokes during pregnancy.