Skip to main content
N I Direct government services

Main navigation

  • Home
  • News
  • Contacts
  • Help
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • RSS

Translation help

Translate this page

Select a language

  • Afrikaans — Afrikaans
  • Albanian — Shqip
  • Amharic — አማርኛ
  • Arabic — العربية
  • Armenian — Հայերեն
  • Assamese — অসমীয়া
  • Aymara — Aymar aru
  • Azerbaijani — Azərbaycan dili
  • Bambara — Bamanankan
  • Basque — Euskara
  • Belarusian — Беларуская
  • Bengali — বাংলা
  • Bhojpuri — भोजपुरी
  • Bosnian — Bosanski
  • Bulgarian — Български
  • Cantonese — 廣州話
  • Catalan — Català
  • Cebuano — Sinugbuanong Binisayâ
  • Chichewa — Chichewa
  • Chinese (Simplified) — 简体中文
  • Chinese (Traditional) — 繁體中文
  • Corsican — Corsu
  • Croatian — Hrvatski
  • Czech — Čeština
  • Danish — Dansk
  • Dhivehi — ދިވެހި
  • Dogri — डोगरी
  • Dutch — Nederlands
  • English — English
  • Esperanto — Esperanto
  • Estonian — Eesti
  • Ewe — Eʋegbe
  • Filipino — Filipino
  • Finnish — Suomi
  • French — Français
  • Frisian — Frysk
  • Galician — Galego
  • Georgian — ქართული
  • German — Deutsch
  • Greek — Ελληνικά
  • Guarani — Avañe’ẽ
  • Gujarati — ગુજરાતી
  • Haitian Creole — Kreyòl ayisyen
  • Hausa — Hausa
  • Hawaiian — ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi
  • Hebrew — עברית
  • Hindi — हिन्दी
  • Hmong — Hmoob
  • Hungarian — Magyar
  • Icelandic — Íslenska
  • Igbo — Asụsụ Igbo
  • Ilocano — Ilokano
  • Indonesian — Bahasa Indonesia
  • Irish — Gaeilge
  • Italian — Italiano
  • Japanese — 日本語
  • Javanese — Basa Jawa
  • Kannada — ಕನ್ನಡ
  • Kazakh — Қазақ тілі
  • Khmer — ភាសាខ្មែរ
  • Kinyarwanda — Ikinyarwanda
  • Konkani — कोंकणी
  • Korean — 한국어
  • Krio — Krio
  • Kurdish (Kurmanji) — Kurdî
  • Kurdish (Sorani) — کوردی
  • Kyrgyz — Кыргызча
  • Lao — ລາວ
  • Latin — Latina
  • Latvian — Latviešu
  • Lingala — Lingála
  • Lithuanian — Lietuvių
  • Luganda — Luganda
  • Luxembourgish — Lëtzebuergesch
  • Macedonian — Македонски
  • Maithili — मैथिली
  • Malagasy — Malagasy
  • Malay — Bahasa Melayu
  • Malayalam — മലയാളം
  • Maltese — Malti
  • Maori — Māori
  • Marathi — मराठी
  • Meiteilon (Manipuri) — ꯃꯤꯇꯩ ꯂꯣꯟ
  • Mizo — Mizo ṭawng
  • Mongolian — Монгол хэл
  • Myanmar (Burmese) — မြန်မာစာ
  • Nepali — नेपाली
  • Norwegian — Norsk
  • Odia (Oriya) — ଓଡ଼ିଆ
  • Oromo — Afaan Oromoo
  • Pashto — پښتو
  • Persian — فارسی
  • Polish — Polski
  • Portuguese — Português
  • Punjabi — ਪੰਜਾਬੀ
  • Quechua — Runa Simi
  • Romanian — Română
  • Russian — Русский
  • Samoan — Gagana Samoa
  • Sanskrit — संस्कृतम्
  • Scots Gaelic — Gàidhlig
  • Sepedi — Sepedi
  • Serbian — Српски
  • Sesotho — Sesotho
  • Shona — Shona
  • Sindhi — سنڌي
  • Sinhala — සිංහල
  • Slovak — Slovenčina
  • Slovenian — Slovenščina
  • Somali — Soomaali
  • Spanish — Español
  • Sundanese — Basa Sunda
  • Swahili — Kiswahili
  • Swedish — Svenska
  • Tajik — Тоҷикӣ
  • Tamil — தமிழ்
  • Tatar — Татар теле
  • Telugu — తెలుగు
  • Thai — ไทย
  • Tigrinya — ትግርኛ
  • Tsonga — Xitsonga
  • Turkish — Türkçe
  • Turkmen — Türkmençe
  • Twi — Twi
  • Ukrainian — Українська
  • Urdu — اردو
  • Uyghur — ئۇيغۇرچە
  • Uzbek — Oʻzbekcha
  • Vietnamese — Tiếng Việt
  • Welsh — Cymraeg
  • Xhosa — IsiXhosa
  • Yiddish — ייִדיש
  • Yoruba — Yorùbá
  • Zulu — IsiZulu
  • Breadcrumb

    1. Home
    2. Health and wellbeing
    3. Living well
    4. Pregnancy and trying for a baby
    5. Your health during pregnancy

    Keeping active during pregnancy

    The more active and fit you are during pregnancy, the easier it will be to adapt to your changing shape and weight gain. It will also help you to cope with labour and to get back into shape after the birth.

    Exercising during pregnancy

    Regular physical activity during pregnancy improves mood, sleep and fitness.

    Exercise also:

    • helps prevent gestational diabetes
    • controls weight gain
    • reduces hypertensive disorders

    Exercise improves your circulation, which is good for both you and the baby.

    Giving birth is physically demanding. By keeping fit, you will be better equipped to give birth. 

    It's important to ask your doctor for advice before starting physical exercise. If you aren't active already, start gradually and build exercise into your day.

    Staying active

    Keep up your normal daily physical activity or exercise for as long as you feel comfortable.

    This can include sport, swimming, dancing, or just walking to work and back. Don’t exhaust yourself and remember that you might need to slow down as your pregnancy progresses or if your doctor advises you to.

    As a general rule, you should be able to hold a conversation as you exercise. If you become breathless as you talk, you may be exercising too strenuously.

    If you were inactive before you were pregnant, don’t suddenly take up strenuous exercise. If you start an aerobic exercise programme, begin with no more than 15 minutes’ continuous exercise, three times per week.

    Increase this gradually to a maximum of 30 minutes, four times a week. Let the instructor that you are pregnant.

    Exercise tips

    When exercising, remember:

    • listen to your body
    • stop if you feel uncomfortable
    • ask your doctor or midwife for advice
    • exercise doesn’t have to be strenuous to be good for you
    • warm up before and cool down after exercising
    • try to keep active on a daily basis – half an hour walking each day can be enough and any amount is better than nothing
    • avoid strenuous exercise in hot weather
    • drink plenty of water and other fluids
    • if you go to exercise classes, make sure your instructor is qualified and knows you are pregnant
    • try swimming, as the water will support your extra weight – some swimming pools have aquanatal classes with qualified instructors

    Exercises to avoid

    While you should continue exercising during your pregnancy, there are some activities you should avoid, including:

    • contact sports where there is a risk of being hit, such as boxing, judo or squash
    • horse riding, downhill skiing, ice hockey, gymnastics and cycling, because there is a risk of falling
    • scuba diving, because the baby has no protection against decompression sickness and gas embolism
    • exercising at heights over 2,500 metres until you have acclimatised – you and your baby are at risk of acute mountain sickness
    • anything requiring you to lie flat on your back – your baby presses on the big blood vessels and can make you feel faint

    Exercises for a fitter pregnancy

    There are exercises you can do during pregnancy to strengthen your muscles to help you carry the extra weight.

    They will help to:

    • make your joints stronger
    • improve your circulation
    • ease backache
    • generally make you feel well

    Stomach strengthening exercises

    As your baby gets bigger, you may find that the hollow in your lower back becomes more pronounced, which can cause backache. These exercises strengthen your abdominal muscles and ease your backache.

    When doing these exercises:

    • start on all fours with your knees under your hips, your hands under your shoulders, your fingers facing forward and your back straight
    • pull in your stomach muscles and raise your back towards the ceiling, allow your head to relax and don’t let your elbows lock
    • hold for a few seconds, then return to your starting position
    • your back should return to a straight, natural position
    • do this slowly and rhythmically ten times, making your muscles work hard and moving your back carefully – only move your back as far as is comfortable

    Pelvic tilt exercises

    Stand with your shoulders and bottom against a wall. Keep your knees soft, pull your belly button towards your spine, so your back flattens against the wall and hold for four seconds – repeat up to ten times.

    Pelvic floor exercises

    These exercises help to strengthen the pelvic floor, which are placed under great strain in pregnancy and childbirth.

    The pelvic floor consists of layers of muscles which stretch like a supportive hammock from the pubic bone to the base of the backbone.

    During pregnancy, you may find that you leak urine when you cough or strain. This is known as stress incontinence or urine and can continue after pregnancy.

    By performing pelvic floor exercises, you strengthen the pelvic floor muscles and this helps to reduce or avoid this problem after pregnancy. It’s important to do them even if you are young and not suffering from stress incontinence now.

    To do this exercise:

    • close up your back passage as if trying to prevent a bowel movement
    • at the same time, draw in your vagina as if you are gripping a tampon, and your urethra as if to stop the flow of urine
    • first do this exercise quickly, tightening and releasing the  muscles straight away
    • then do it slowly, holding the contractions for as long as you can before your relax – try counting to ten
    • try to do three sets of eight squeezes every day – you could try doing them at each meal to help you remember

    As well as these exercises, you will also need to practise tightening up the pelvic floor before and during coughing and sneezing.

    Ask your midwife or doctor about these exercises. Your local maternity unit should run classes where a specialist physiotherapist attends. They can instruct you in groups or individually. Feel free to ask them for advice and help.

    Foot exercises

    Foot exercises can be done sitting or standing. They improve blood circulation, reduce swelling in the ankles and prevent cramp in the calf muscles.

    You can exercise your feet by:

    • bending and stretching your foot vigorously up and down 30 times
    • rotating your foot eight times one way and eight times the other way before repeating with the other foot

    More useful links

    • Healthy eating in pregnancy
    • Physical activity
    • Physical activity guidelines: pregnancy and after childbirth
    Share this page Share on Facebook (external link opens in a new window / tab) Share on X (external link opens in a new window / tab) Share by email (external link opens in a new window / tab)

    Your health during pregnancy

    • Alcohol, smoking and drugs in pregnancy
    • Common complaints during pregnancy
    • Complications in pregnancy
    • Foods to avoid in pregnancy
    • Group B Streptococcus and pregnancy
    • Health during pregnancy
    • Healthy eating in pregnancy
    • Infections during pregnancy
    • Keeping active during pregnancy
    • Miscarriage, stillbirth and ectopic pregnancy
    • Rubella and HIV
    • Sex during pregnancy
    • Travelling while pregnant
    • Vaccinations in pregnancy

    Help improve this page - send your feedback

    What do you want to do?
    Report a problem
    Which problem did you find on this page? (Tick all that apply)

    Messages

    You will not receive a reply. We will consider your feedback to help improve the site.

    Don't include any personal or financial information, for example National Insurance, credit card numbers, or phone numbers.

    What is your question about?

    What to do next

    Comments or queries about angling can be emailed to anglingcorrespondence@daera-ni.gov.uk 

    If you have a comment or query about benefits, you will need to contact the government department or agency which handles that benefit.  Contacts for common benefits are listed below.

    Carer's Allowance

    Call 0800 587 0912
    Email 
    dcs.incomingpostteamdhc2@nissa.gsi.gov.uk

    Discretionary support / Short-term benefit advance

    Call 0800 587 2750 
    Email 
    customerservice.unit@communities-ni.gov.uk

    Disability Living Allowance

    Call 0800 587 0912 
    Email dcs.incomingpostteamdhc2@nissa.gsi.gov.uk

    Employment and Support Allowance

    Call 0800 587 1377

    Jobseeker’s Allowance

    Contact your local Jobs & Benefits office

    Personal Independence Payment

    Call 0800 587 0932

    If your query is about another benefit, select ‘Other’ from the drop-down menu above.

    Comments or queries about the Blue Badge scheme can be emailed to bluebadges@infrastructure-ni.gov.uk or you can also call 0300 200 7818.

    For queries or advice about careers, contact the Careers Service.

    For queries or advice about Child Maintenance, contact the Child Maintenance Service.

    For queries or advice about claiming compensation due to a road problem, contact DFI Roads claim unit.

    If you can’t find the information you’re looking for in the Coronavirus (COVID-19) section, then for queries about:

    • Restrictions or regulations — contact the Department of Health
    • Travel advice (including self-isolation) — contact the Department of Health
    • Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccinations — contact the Department of Health or Public Health Agency

    If your query is about another topic, select ‘Other’ from the drop-down menu above.

    For queries about your identity check, email nida@nidirect.gov.uk and for queries about your certificate, email covidcertni@hscni.net.

    For queries or advice about criminal record checks, email ani@accessni.gov.uk

    Application and payment queries can be emailed to ema_ni@slc.co.uk

    For queries or advice about employment rights, contact the Labour Relations Agency.

    For queries or advice about birth, death, marriage and civil partnership certificates and research, contact the General Register Office Northern Ireland (GRONI) by email gro_nisra@finance-ni.gov.uk

    For queries about your GRONI account, email gro_nisra@finance-ni.gov.uk.

    For queries about the High Street Spend Local Scheme,  email HSSS.mail@economy-ni.gov.uk.

    For queries about:

    • Car tax, vehicle registration and SORN
      contact the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), Swansea
       
    • Driver licensing and tests, MOT and vehicle testing
      contact the Driver & Vehicle Agency (DVA), Northern Ireland

    If your query is about another topic, select ‘Other’ from the drop-down menu above.

    For queries about your identity check, email nida@nidirect.gov.uk.

     

    For queries or advice about passports, contact HM Passport Office.

    For queries or advice about Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs), including parking tickets and bus lane PCNs, email dcu@infrastructure-ni.gov.uk

    For queries or advice about pensions, contact the Northern Ireland Pension Centre.

    If you wish to report a problem with a road or street you can do so online in this section.

    If you wish to check on a problem or fault you have already reported, contact DfI Roads.

    For queries or advice about historical, social or cultural records relating to Northern Ireland, use the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) enquiry service.

    For queries or advice about rates, email LPSCustomerTeam@lpsni.gov.uk

    For queries or advice about  60+ and Senior Citizen SmartPasses (which can be used to get concessionary travel on public transport), contact Smartpass - Translink.

    If you have a question about a government service or policy, you should contact the relevant government organisation directly.  We don't have access to information about you.

    Related sites

    • gov.uk
    • nibusinessinfo.co.uk

    Links to supporting information

    • Accessibility statement
    • Crown copyright
    • Terms and conditions
    • Privacy
    • Cookies
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • RSS