A recent study suggests that practicing yoga during pregnancy may improve birth weight, reduce preterm labor, and decrease the chances of pregnancy complications overall. The study, led by Dr. Shamanthakamani Narendran in Bangalore and co-authored by Dr. Vivek Narendran of the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center in Ohio, compared 169 pregnant women who practiced yoga with 166 pregnant women receiving only routine prenatal care. Fourteen percent of women who practiced yoga went into preterm labor, as compared to twenty-nine percent of increased cases in the controlled group. Rates of high blood pressure were also decreased in the yoga group. Yoga training involved various loosening exercises, postures, relaxation and breathing exercises and meditation, and was practiced for one hour every day. The report is published in the Journal of Alternative and Complimentary Medicine.
Source: PakTribune.com