With the current pandemic keeping most people confined to the four walls of their homes, the way the world lives has suddenly changed a lot. From masks, sanitizers and social distancing becoming the mantra for health and happiness, our homes have suddenly become the safest space.
This situation has brought about a big challenge in the fitness aspect, both mental and physical. Even though gyms have opened their doors, yet many people take precautionary measures and steer clear of these closed spaces.
This phase has also brought about the new way of working - from the comfort and safety of everybody’s own homes. With the confinement to homes and the new work style, there is an increased need for three things:
While all three things are of great significance for everyone, these are especially critical for pregnant women. Let’s explore.
Pregnancy changes your body in more ways than you notice. Your breasts will become bigger in size, causing pressure on your chest and even breathlessness, pushing your shoulders backward. As your belly grows bigger, your posture will keep changing and it will create quite a bit of pressure on your spine, your pelvic region, your knees and even your ankles.
This would mean that you could possibly have back and shoulder aches, as well as pain in your knees, ankles and other joints. As you navigate a work from home posture making you spend more time in front of your screen and less time for yourself, here are a few things you can do to make sure that you are comfortable through this phase.
As your pregnancy progresses, your center of gravity will change and you will find that you lean backwards increasingly. Now, when you are in a work from home situation, the pressure on the part where the spine meets the pelvis increases, making your backache more prominent. This can be taken care of by sitting straight while working as well and having a back support along with a proper chair and desk. Keep massaging your back so that firstly, it puts pressure on the pain points and secondly, improves blood flow which will help relieve the pain.
When you are working from home, you might tend to sit on your couch or bed for ease of convenience. While this might seem comfortable initially, yet, it will stress out your neck and you need to ensure that you have your laptop or computer placed on a table so that your neck doesn’t get stressed when you concentrate on your work.
Sometimes, your pregnancy can cause carpal tunnel syndrome that affects your wrists. To ensure that your work from home situation is not triggering it, make sure that your wrists, elbows and arms are in a straight line and the heel of your palms isn’t resting on the keyboard. Keep rolling your wrists once in a while and take a break from all that typing!
Pregnancy is known to cause swelling in your ankles because of water retention. To add to that, the extra weight gain due to pregnancy can also put significant pressure on your knees. To avoid a full-blown ankle or knee pain, it’s best to keep your feet elevated while you are working. Make sure that your feet don’t dangle when you sit and you have a footrest so that there is no scope for more swelling.
It’s essential that you take short breaks from work. Blink your eyes often, stand up, stretch yourself and take a walk around the house. When you have office calls, instead of sitting, you could actually walk around as you attend these calls. Go get yourself a glass of water as keeping yourself hydrated is equally important. Engage in simple exercises like rotating your ankles, opening and closing your fists and lifting your legs to keep them parallel to the ground. These are simple exercises that will help you be fit and improve your posture.
Indulging in yoga helps you in many ways. It improves your frame of mind, helps breathing, makes your posture better and helps achieve the critical mental balance that’s important in times like these. It also means some time away from your screen and that is an absolute bonus.
Other things you can keep in mind are keeping a hot water bag close to yourself, taking power naps and engaging yourself in things that you like doing.
With these tips, we wish you a happy pregnancy. Stay home, stay safe!
