Physical activity or exercise is an important part of pregnancy, before during and afterwards. It is one of the ways, along with eating a healthy diet, not smoking and making sure your weight is appropriate, that you can increase your chances of having a healthy, happy pregnancy, labour and baby.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists made a statement in 2006 about physical activity and exercise in pregnancy. They looked at all the evidence for the pro's and con's and came up with some recommendations.

Here are the main recommendations for exercise during pregnancy:

• All women should be encouraged to do both aerobic and strength-conditioning exercise while pregnant (aerobic exercise is that which gets your heart working harder, like brisk walking, and strength-conditioning exercise is exercise that is designed to make you muscles stronger, like doing weights at the gym or a legs bums and tums class)
• Pregnant women should avoid sports or exercise that increases the chance of trauma, for example skiing, horse riding and contact sports like kickboxing also pregnant women should not scuba dive
• Pregnant women should not get too hot when exercising; avoiding hot humid conditions and drinking plenty should help to avoid this
• Pregnant women should not do exercise lying on their back
• Pregnant women should be aware that injuries are more likely as joints become more flexible and hyper-mobile

So what are the benefits of being physically active?

The evidence suggests that benefits are both physical and psychological.

Many of the common pregnancy complaints including fatigue, water retention and varicose veins appear to be reduced in women who exercise regularly. In addition women who are active report less insomnia, anxiety, stress and depression.

Weight bearing exercise throughout pregnancy, like walking or jogging, can reduce the length of labour and the number of complications.

Exercise can also help to make sure that you gain an appropriate amount of weight during pregnancy. There is growing concern about the affects of putting on too much weight too quickly during pregnancy, it is thought that this can not only increase complications during pregnancy and labour but may have adverse affects on your babies long term health.

So what exercise should I be doing?

Before pregnancy is the best time to start being more physically active though starting at any stage has massive benefits.

Health professionals talk about physical activity rather than exercise though these are really the same thing. The point is to raise your heart rate work your muscles a bit harder than usual, preferably for at least 30 minutes per day. How you do this is up to you, and you can call it being physically active or exercising. You may choose to work up a sweat cleaning the house or you may prefer to go to a formal exercise class at a local sports centre.

The key is to start off gradually and see the 30 minutes a day a goal, the best form of exercise is one that is cheap, can be fitted in to everyday life and is enjoyable. Thinking about this before you start can be a good idea, would you rather take up a new hobby that's physically active or would you just prefer to do more walking each day?

The ‘talk test' is a good way to make sure that you are exercising at a suitable level, during exercise you should still be able to hold a conversation while feeling like you are working. If you are too short of breath and can only get the odd word out then you need to slow down.

If you have not done much exercise before talk to your midwife about it, she may know of groups especially for women who are pregnant or other women in the same situation as you. If you have a pre-existing medical condition you need to talk to your midwife about exercise in more detail.

What if I'm already physically active?

If you are already physically active that's great, you should plan to continue as you are taking a few additional things into consideration:

• Your goal during pregnancy should be to maintain you fitness, now is not the time to try to improve your fitness or train hard for a specific event.
• You should also listen to your body and except that there should be a decline in the amount and level of exercise that you find comfortable as the pregnancy progresses

Anyone who is exercising during pregnancy should stop immediately if they have any of the following:

• Excessive shortness of breath
• Chest pain or a feeling of an irregular heartbeat
• Dizziness
• Painful contractions
• Bleeding
• Leaking of amniotic fluid
• Stomach or pelvic pains
• Excessive fatigue
• Headache
• Calf swelling or pain
• If you think your baby is not moving as much a usual

What about after pregnancy, what should I be doing then?

Physical activity and exercise are beneficial at any time of life but the right sort of exercise after pregnancy can reduce the risk of long term health problems. These include doing pelvic floor exercises, which may decrease the risk of future urinary incontinence.

Exercise and physical activity combined with a healthy diet are the best way to lose weight after pregnancy and reduce the risk of obesity and its many complications which include heart disease, stroke, certain cancers and diabetes. There is no evidence that exercising reduces the quality of quantity of breast milk.