Hot yoga while pregnant?

[TheGrumpySquirrel]

Bit fed up of reading all the things you "can't do" while pregnant these days. I practice hot yoga regularly and am very fit (and TTC). I also do spin cycle classes which are intense. So I would not be doing anything more than my normal workout routine which my body is totally used to.. if you feel fine and sweat adequately what's the problem? Is overheating the embryo in first 12 weeks a real danger? Is it confined to first trimester? What about women who live in India in 50 degree heat? Can someone link to some actual science rather than all these baby mania websites? Wish I hadn't googled now. I had assumed it would be ok as long as I took it easy and listened to my body

This looks like an "actual science" article, with references to further reading. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3994790/

Seems like avoiding it, and maybe switching to pregnancy yoga instead, would be a safer idea - no doubt some women do it and are fine, but if it's not a major upset to your lifestyle, why take the chance?

Thanks really appreciate the link will read it now. It would be a major upset to my lifestyle but obviously I don't want to take the risk of harming development

I was advised not to due to the increase in body temperature. For the same reason hot tubs and Jacuzzis should be avoided.

Nora for whole pregnancy or just the first trimester?

As mentioned in the above article there is a known increase in risk of neural tube defects e.g. spina bifida, anencephaly with heat exposure in the first trimester. I'm all about keeping fit during pregnancy - I kept up quite a strong workout routine - but I wouldn't.

Honestly those temperatures would also likely make you feel quite ill or faint. Even in the first trimester the physical and hormonal effects on your body are many and complex and you become much more sensitive to things like heat. Spin is probably fine (until that posture starts to get uncomfortable) but if you really push it you will probably have to take it down a notch.

I was practicing hot yoga regularly and had the same question. My doctor said even if you are used to it it can still cause you to overheat or dehydrate so better not to take the risk.

I don't think anyone can prove it, doctors and yoga teachers are going off what they know and there's no great desire to research into it unfortunately.

If you feel ok doing it, you could go but take it easy, lots of water and maybe pop out for a breath of cooler air?

I was a regular yoga goer until I got pregnant first time and I had to give up and switch to pregnancy yoga as I fainted several times. It can do weird things to your body and I couldn't put my arms above my head etc without feeling g really dizzy.

Ok thank you.. I'm off to look at pregnancy yoga classes near me

No-one's going to do a trial where they assign pregnant women to do something we have sound reasons to believe is harmful to the foetus, so all we'll ever have to work off is 'post hoc' findings from women who did it anyway.

Being pregnant really does make you a lot more heat sensitive in every way though. Your body temperature is higher, your blood pressure and blood volume are higher, it is much harder for your body to dissipate heat. There is a reason why films have so many 'jokes' about pregnant women feeling too hot even in cold weather.