Health & Fitness
5 Ways to Help You Recover After Your Pregnancy
Recovering after pregnancy can be challenging. So many changes occur in your body that it can be difficult to know what to conquer first. The following are some tips for helping you to recovery after you have your baby. Go through them and find the methods that seem right for you.
1. Get Your Daily Dose of Vitamins
Nutrition is one of the most important elements during recovery time. You’ll need to continue to take extra vitamins to promote your body’s healing and to feed your growing baby if you’re breastfeeding. Key vitamins that you should ingest every day include vitamin D, vitamin B12, iron, omega 3 fatty acids, and folic acid. You’ll also need to make sure that you get enough rest every day. It might be challenging now that you have a little one to take care of, but it’s crucial that you get the necessary eight hours of sleep every night so that you can combat fatigue. Furthermore, drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water every day. The experts recommend it, but not enough people in the world take the recommendation seriously.
2. Take Time to Relax
Your body needs relaxation to heal. This relaxation should be aside from the time that you sleep during the night. It should include some quiet meditation time. You can meditate any time of the day or night, and you only need about 15 minutes to feel refreshed. Try this once a day while your baby is sleeping. Go to a quiet place, close your eyes, and think of something that makes you happy. Breath in and out very deeply to let out the bad air and let in the good air.
3. Don’t Rush Yourself
You will need patience during this challenging time. Don’t rush yourself to heal so quickly. The average woman can take up to two years to return to her pre-pregnancy body, weight, and mindset. Don’t get frustrated if everything doesn’t return to you immediately. Ease yourself into the routines mentioned above and reward yourself whenever you succeed with the plan.
4. Get Lots of Cardio
Cardio is your best friend if you intend to lose weight. We recommend doing at least 30 minutes of cardio exercises three times a week to start. Cardio exercises include stair-stepping, treadmill exercise, bicycling, and anything else you can think of to get your heart pumping. You don’t necessarily have to hire a babysitter and go to the gym to get the right amount of exercise. You can find some creative ways to work out right from the comforts of your home. You could consider investing in some exercise equipment to place in your home. Alternatively, you can use items you already have, such as your stairs.
5. Exercise Your Abs
Your abs are going to take the biggest hit after pregnancy because of the tremendous amount of stretching you’ll experience. You can attack that issue from several angles. For one, you can do lower abdominal exercises every day. One easy exercise is to lie on your back and then raise your legs to a 90-degree angle. This exercise will work your lower abdomen, where a lot of the stretching occurred. You can do that every other day if you desire and monitor your progress every month. You can do crunches and sit-ups to work the other parts of your stomach.
In some cases, women develop a condition called diastasis recti. In this unfortunate condition, the abdominal muscles have separated. The condition causes a bulge to appear when you’re doing something strenuous such as coughing. If you develop this condition, you might have to participate in a little bit of physical therapy. You can also go to a cosmetic surgeon who can help you with it. It’s up to you how you resolve the issue. First, you should have a medical professional check you out to ensure that you have that condition. That may not be the case at all, and you owe it to yourself to find out.
Get Back to Your Pre-Pregnancy Self
Those are a few tips that should help to push you along toward a massive recovery. Try them and don’t be afraid to improvise and think of new techniques, as well. Pretty soon, you’ll be back to your old self.