Relax with Pregnancy Breathing Exercises!

With breathing exercises during pregnancy, you can spend both the pregnancy process and the birth much easier.

Did you know that with breathing exercises, you can get through the pregnancy process and birth more easily? How to do breathing exercises during pregnancy, what are the benefits, when should I start? We have searched for all the information you need, you just have to read and apply! Come on, start now!

breathing exercises during pregnancy

Let’s start our breathing exercises suggestions for pregnant women with Pregnant Pilates Instructor Gözde Biber. Gözde says that breathing exercises during pregnancy provide the integration of mind and body, facilitate relaxation and strengthen the bond between mother and baby. İclal, who is 28 weeks pregnant, accompanied us in this pregnant breathing exercises shooting.

Let’s see how Iclal and her baby felt during the breathing exercises. You can practice these exercises wherever you feel comfortable.

Breathing exercises practice during pregnancy

Let’s talk about an application that you can do at home for breathing exercises during pregnancy:

1. Prepare a comfortable environment in your home, turn off your phone and ventilate your room.
2. Sit or lie down on the mat after putting on a comfortable and sweat-proof garment.
3. Play some light and relaxing music.
4. While exercising, you should close your eyes and focus on your breathing and your baby.
5. In the first weeks, you can do breathing exercises by lying on your back and bending your knees, in the following weeks, sit cross-legged or sit on your knees as if you are praying.
6. In order to use your abdominal and chest capacity in the most efficient way, make sure that your back is straight and relaxed.
7. Put enough cushions under your hips to support your coccyx, and think as if a rope is pulling you up from your head so that your body finds the right posture. This way, your shoulders and back won’t get tense.
8. Put one hand on your stomach and the other on your chest and breathe with the diaphragm separating the abdominal cavity from the chest cavity. Place your tongue on your upper palate, behind your teeth, and start breathing from your nose to your stomach.
9. As you exhale, blow with your mouth as if you are inflating a balloon. Hearing the blowing sound, gently push the abdominal wall with your hand and empty the air completely.

Note : If you feel that your stomach is filled with breath and your hand is being pushed to the abdominal wall, you are performing the movement correctly. Inhale and exhale as deeply as you can in this way without exerting yourself too much.

Exercises for shortness of breath during pregnancy

If you have frequent shortness of breath during your pregnancy, the exercises mentioned above will be very good for you. Thanks to these exercises, your heart rate drops and your breathing becomes regular. Aerobic exercises will also be good for breathlessness. The most important thing is that you try not to tire yourself.

When to do breathing exercises during pregnancy?

Let’s tell you when to start breathing exercises during pregnancy . You can start an exercise program after the first three months. You should do the application in the form of 5 repetitions once a day and continue until the birth.

Benefits of breathing exercises during pregnancy

The benefits of breathing exercises for pregnant women are great. Breath is the proof of existence. Especially when another being comes to life inside us, the breath starts to have a different meaning for us. Because the interior needs more oxygen than ever before. The need for quality and efficient breathing is now for two people.

Body and breath are one. Therefore, when the breath is taken efficiently and with quality, the whole body works in harmony and as it should. If you learn to breathe efficiently and with high quality and practice it every day during pregnancy, you can benefit from breathing exercises as a natural pain relief and relaxation method both during pregnancy and birth.

1. It reduces the complaints of shortness of breath!

With the onset of the second trimester, complaints of shortness of breath begin during pregnancy. This is caused by the enlarging uterus pushing on the diaphragm. The diaphragm rises 4 cm from where it should be during pregnancy.

Therefore, compression occurs in the lungs, because the amount of air intake of the lungs decreases with this narrowing of the space. This makes it difficult to breathe. Breathing difficulties, which are often seen during pregnancy, are significantly reduced thanks to the diaphragm muscle, which is strengthened by breathing exercises.

At the same time, when breathing exercises are done regularly during pregnancy, the lung capacity expands and the amount of oxygen going to the baby increases.

2. Reduces stomach problems!

For similar reasons, the stomach, like the diaphragm, is pushed upwards. The upward movement of the stomach also triggers the movement of gastric juice towards the esophagus. This causes heartburn, indigestion and nausea.

With breathing exercises, the abdominal organs are stimulated and complaints such as heartburn, indigestion, constipation, bloating and gas are greatly reduced. Also, deep, controlled and slow breathing is good for nausea and dizziness.

3. Reduces body aches!

Body posture changes from the 2nd trimester of pregnancy with the growing uterus and abdomen . As a result, back, waist, hip, neck and shoulder pains occur. Correct breathing techniques, an efficient and quality breathing exercise during pregnancy can be used as a natural pain reliever.

Moreover, you can hug this method with all your hands during the pregnancy period when it is forbidden to take drugs. Of course, by exercising during pregnancy and combining breathing with other body exercises.

4. It relaxes and strengthens the bond with your baby!

Doing breathing exercises during pregnancy not only helps you get away from the stress and confusion of daily life, but also slows down the thoughts that you can’t stop. When you concentrate a little on your breathing and stay in the moment, you will see how relaxing a mind that does not actually produce thoughts and does not speak.

As you do the breathing exercise, you will feel your baby moving inside. Because these exercises strengthen the bond between you as you breathe the common breath, and make your baby happy because he feels the increasing oxygen and energy inside.