Exercising in Pregnancy reduces the risk of premature birth

A very large Danish study investigated the link between exercise and pregnancy in 87,232 Danish women who gave birth between 1996 and 2002. The women who exercised during pregnancy had a significantly reduced chance of premature birth than those who said they had not exercised during pregnancy.  Interestingly, the study also showed that lots of exercise did not reduce the risk of premature birth any more than some exercise. This suggests that you don’t need to go ‘all out’ exercising to get the benefit.

[M. Juhl & 6 others: Physical Exercise during Pregnancy and the Risk of Preterm Birth: A Study within the Danish National Birth Cohort in: American Journal of Epidemiology (2008) vol. 167, no. 7, pp.859-866.]