Prenatal exercise refers to physical exercise that women engage in during pregnancy, and this topic has continued to receive growing attention as a result of growing concern that women the West are gaining excessive weight during pregnancy leading to future obesity for the mother and the child. According to Gilman 2012, obesity and overweight during pregnancy are closely linked to pregnancy complications such as gestational diabetes and increased incidence of miscarriage. The prevalence of excessive weight in pregnant women is worrying given that a major analysis of 1.3 Million pregnancies around the world revealed that 47 percent of the women gained excessive weight during the pregnancy period hence risking their health and the health of the child. Besides, studies by Richardson et al. (2014) revealed that one in five mothers are obese in the UK. In light of the above, this paper analyzes how above water, under water and transgenerational factors facilitate or hinder prenatal exercise.
Outline and Integration of Factors
Concept of Embodiment
Krieger (2004) defines embodiment as the interaction between bodies, components of bodies and the world in which bodies live. Embodiment views bodies as active and engaged entities in the ecosystem and therefore are likely to be affected by the societal factors such as the community’s beliefs and norms. The idea of embodiment posits that people experience the world using their bodies and that bodies tell stories about existence, they reveal peoples accounts and things that people might not tell (Krieger, 2005). Embodiment views a body as a biological organism with the ability to reproduce, evolve, develop and grow as well as a social being capable of social production and consumption.
Above Water Factors Affecting Prenatal Exercise
According to Glass &McAtee (2006), above water factors emanate from one’s social environment and greatly affect individual action or choice. In the case of prenatal activity, cultural norms and the local exercise environment are some of the major above water factors.
Cultural norms are the rules of behavior that define what is acceptable in a group of society and every member is expected to abide by them. Failure to follow these rules can lead to dire consequences for the individual since they may be considered as social misfits and therefore shunned from society. Thus, pregnant women are affected by the cultural norms of the societies they hail from, and this might facilitate or hinder prenatal exercise. In most societies the caretaking role is the responsibility of women and therefore even when a woman is pregnant, she may go out of her way to try and care for her husband and children. While this is not overly wrong, it hinders women from prenatal activity since they have to be at home in time to prepare the meals (Marquez et al., 2009).As well, most communities are overprotective of pregnant women, and the relatives and friends watch them closely to ensure that they will not engage in any activity that might harm the mother or the fetus (Chang et al., 2015). Therefore, it becomes increasingly difficult for a pregnant woman to engage in prenatal activity since the relatives and the husband sees prenatal exercise as a risk factor that might lead to a miscarriage.
Secondly, the exercise environment is another above water factor that affects prenatal activity. Exercise environment refers to the physical environment in which a person prefers to carry out their work outs. Most of the times, this environment is influenced by the climatic conditions, physical terrain of the natural surroundings and availability and affordability of exercise programs in the neighborhood. The environment determines whether pregnant women will engage in physical activity or not. For instance, if the pregnant mother considers her neighborhood to be insecure, she will not be willing to engage in physical activity since in the process, she might fall into the hands of criminals (Downs et al., 2012). Besides, Chang et al.(2015) observes that if a pregnant woman has access to trails and parks, she is more likely to engage in physical activity since these built environments provide a conducive environment for women to participate in prenatal exercise. This is because parks ease the physical exercise activity so that the benefits that the woman gains from exercising overshadow the sacrifices. Access to childcare also affects a pregnant woman’s intention to engage in physical activity.If the health facilities are too far from home, a pregnant mother may avoid engaging in physical activity since if she is involved in an incident during the workout, it may take some time before she gets medical assistance (Weir et al., 2010).
Underwater Factors Affecting Pre-Natal Exercise
Underwater factors refer to physiological or psychological states, personality or bodily sensations that affects the process of embodiment (Glass & McAtee, 2006). In light of those above, this paper delves into how a person’s body image and, knowledge and attitude towards prenatal exercise affects physical activity.
Body image refers to how one perceives and thinks about the shape and the size of their body. Most women are sensitive about how they look and how much they weigh, and the advent of pregnancy brings them a new headache since the chances of obesity spikes during this period. Therefore, most of them are willing to engage in any activity that will help them to maintain their shape and weight in control. According to Leiferman et al. (2011), the fear of gaining too much weight acts as a facilitator for women to engage in a prenatal activity. Besides, Chang et al. (2015) observes that the fear of judgment and embarrassment forces women to participate in prenatal activity since it helps them to preserve their social identity and through this, they can maintain their self-esteem.
Secondly, the knowledge and attitude of pregnant mothers towards prenatal activity affects their participation or abstinence from physical exercise. Knowledge is important since it informs someone about the usefulness and the process of engaging in an activity. Attitude on the other hand affects the intention of an individual to take part or abstain from a particular activity. Most of the times, a person’s attitude on a certain issue is greatly influenced by the amount of information they have regarding that issue (Chang et al., 2013). When it comes to prenatal activity, these two interrelated aspects come into play. According to Thompson, Vamos & Daley (2015), the belief that physical activity lessens labor pain, improves one’s health and has psychological benefits for the pregnant mother acts as a great motivator for women to engage in prenatal activity. Besides, the attitude that physical exercise may cause a miscarriage adversely influences the pregnant mother’s intention to engage in prenatal exercise. Hence, knowledge about the benefits of exercising fosters prenatal activity while negative attitude discourages pregnant mothers from indulging in physical activity.
Transgenerational Factors
Transgenerational factors refer to conditions and factors experienced by one generation that relates or can affect the outcome of the succeeding generation. One of these factors is the neighborhood where the pregnant woman lives. It is noteworthy to state that there is a close relationship between well-established neighborhoods and health outcomes (Boardman, Daw & Freese, 2013). For instance, the affluent white in the United States lives in leafy areas where there is quality healthcare, ample security, parks and quality food products such as fresh vegetables and fruits. Besides, the rate of pollution is highly controlled in these suburbs contrast, most of the African Americans and Latinos live in places which are characterized by insecurity and lack of medical facilities. Therefore, this difference in living conditions leads to different prenatal outcomes. The presence of a high number of African Americans in poor neighborhoods is as a result of previous discriminatory housing policies which prevented the people of color gaining ownership in the affluent areas. This is a disparity which emanates from previous social injustices hence bringing in the transgenerational aspect.
Conclusion
Based on the above analysis, social norms, exercise environment, body image and knowledge and attitudes affects pre-natal activity. Increasing physical activity in this population would require making the exercise environment safer so that pregnant women do not fear that they might be exposing themselves to danger by engaging in outdoor physical activity. Besides, establishing exercise facilities such as gymnasiums close to residential areas would encourage more women to engage in prenatal activity due to improved accessibility. Secondly, educating pregnant women on the benefits of prenatal activity on their physical and physiological health will motivate them to engage in prenatal exercise. This is because most women are concerned about their body weight during pregnancy and therefore, giving them, a solution would be very welcome. If these strategies are well executed, pregnant women will experience excellent health before and after their child’s birth.
References
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