Pregnancy is a special time. Your body is going through phenomenal change, so pursuing new fitness challenges is almost certainly a bad idea. But that doesn’t mean you should ditch exercise altogether, because there is plenty of evidence highlighting the benefits of exercise pre and post-partem.

Gestational weight gain

Weight gain is a given in pregnancy, but how much should you gain? As a guide, a woman with a normal BMI (18.5-24.9) should expect normal gestational weight gain of 11.5-16kg. Anything more than that would be considered excessive, and anything under that would be considered less than desirable. There is very strong evidence suggesting that exercising during pregnancy reduces excess weight gain. The evidence shows that moderate intensity cardiovascular exercise (such as aerobics, walking and swimming) for 30-60 minutes at least three times a week significantly decreases the chances of excess weight gain during pregnancy.

Gestational diabetes

Gestational diabetes is a condition in which a mother with no evidence of diabetes pre-pregnancy develops high blood sugar levels during pregnancy. Although many expectant mothers do not experience symptoms as a result, gestational diabetes increases the risk of pre-eclampsia, depression, and requiring a caesarean-section. There is very strong evidence that exercising during pregnancy decreases the risk of developing this condition by 27 percent on average. Even better, though, exercising before and during pregnancy further decreases the risk of developing the condition by 38 percent.

Pre-eclampsia and gestational hypertension

Pre-eclampsia is a condition in which an expectant mother experiences high blood pressure and high levels of protein in the urine, especially during the second half of pregnancy. The evidence surrounding exercise and these conditions is interesting: the evidence suggests there is a dose-response relationship regarding exercise: the risks of developing the condition lowers as the amount of weekly exercise increases, until about five hours per week, where if the expectant mother did more exercise, the decrease in risks get smaller, with studies suggesting that five hours/week is the sweet spot.

Anxiety

Anxiety can affect expectant mothers both pre and post-partem and can have a large impact on the mental health of the mother. The evidence suggests that practising yoga during pregnancy can significantly reduce various forms of anxiety.

Depression

Depression is a major concern for mothers, and exercise has been shown to help both during and after pregnancy. Studies have shown that practising yoga during pregnancy can reduce symptoms of depression, plus moderate intensity aerobic exercise post-partem has been shown to reduce the incidence of post-partem depressive symptoms.

The bottom line

Almost all of the evidence suggests that exercising during pregnancy yields many benefits for both mother and baby.

– Aerobic based exercise 3-5 times per week potentially yields the most benefits, with the addition of yoga yielding extra mental health benefits too.

One of the key things for the expectant mother though is to listen to their body. If you don’t feel right exercising, stop straight away, and if you don’t feel like exercising one day (or one week, or even one month!), it’s okay. Just get back into it when you feel ready.

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This piece originally appeared on lesmills.com.