PREGNANCY

The air out there
A long walk in clean country air exercises your body, helping to ease that hip joint pain and triggering the release of feel-good endorphins. It’s also a breath of fresh air for your lungs, and that means more oxygen for your baby. Women in industrial cities tend to have lower-birth-weight babies, so putting some distance between pollution and your pulmonary system is guaranteed to do you both some good. “Trees also clean pollutants, so if there are plenty of trees around, the air will be cleaner,” says Barbara MacKinnon of the New Brunswick Lung Association.

Can’t get out of the city for your constitutional? Try a local park, playground or even a peaceful cemetery. Pollutant density decreases every foot you’re away from the traffic corridor, says MacKinnon. “It’s bound to be better for you than walking on the streets.”

Yoga breath
When you focus on your breathing, your whole body relaxes, which may alleviate morning sickness, says Halifax prenatal yoga instructor Jolene D’Entrement. Try some deep belly breathing: Place your hand on your stomach and breathe in until your tummy expands. As you exhale fully, gently contract your abdominal muscles in toward your baby. “You’re learning not to breathe just in your upper chest,” says D’Entrement. “You’re getting a full, deep inhale and full, deep exhale, and you’re hugging the baby at the same time.” And it’s a nice way to feel connected with the tiny life inside you, she adds.

Added bonus: After baby’s born, deep belly breathing will help tone those tummy muscles back into shape.

Originally published in Today's Parent Pregnancy & Birth, Autumn 2007