Contents:
- Medical Video: Is It Safe To Go In A Steam Room While Pregnant?
- Is it safe to do a sauna while pregnant?
- What are the risks of having a sauna while pregnant?
- Various ways to relax during pregnancy besides sauna
Medical Video: Is It Safe To Go In A Steam Room While Pregnant?
Saunas during pregnancy may be the choice of some mothers to relieve stress and calm themselves. Even so, most other pregnant women, actually consider a sauna when pregnant is dangerous. So, is it safe to do a sauna while pregnant? Are there risks for pregnancy?
Is it safe to do a sauna while pregnant?
Usually sauna rooms are made of wood and are designed with low humidity and a rather high temperature, which is around 82-90 degrees Celsius. For women who are not pregnant, a sauna is useful for relieving stress, body aches, and removing poisons - which are released through sweat.
But for pregnant women, sauna activities are still a debate in the medical world. Some doctors allow pregnant women to relax the body with a sauna, even if only for a short time. Meanwhile, some other medical experts recommend not doing a sauna while pregnant. If you want to do a sauna, discuss this with your obstetrician first.
Even if your doctor allows you to do a sauna, you should still pay attention to a number of things such as the time at work and the temperature in the sauna room. The maximum deadline in a sauna room for pregnant women is 15 minutes, but still this depends on the temperature of the sauna room to be used. If indeed the temperature of the sauna room is too high, then pregnant women should not linger in it.
What are the risks of having a sauna while pregnant?
Saunas during pregnancy can increase the potential for pregnancy complications to occur in the mother. This has been proven in several studies that show that saunas during pregnancy can increase birth defects and spina bifida - abnormalities in the spine - in infants. This can occur because the temperature in the sauna affects the mother's body temperature.This risk arises due to the temperature in a hot sauna room, so that pregnant women cannot remove their body heat and eventually develop hypertemia.
When hyperthermia occurs, blood pressure will decrease. If blood pressure decreases in pregnant women, it causes a decrease in the distribution of oxygen and nutrients in the fetus. Lack of oxygen and nutrients in the fetus, resulting in various complications such as low birth weight, disability in infants, even fetal death or miscarriage.
Various ways to relax during pregnancy besides sauna
From several studies that have been done, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends that mothers not do saunas while pregnant. Even so, reducing back pain and reducing stress levels are important things for pregnant women to do. There are several other options that you can do to calm yourself apart from the sauna, namely:
- Bathe with hot water
- Massage with a professional - who understands about massage during pregnancy - or asks for your partner to massage your painful part of your body.
- Exercising, like yoga and swimming and doing breathing exercises are also good for labor later.
