Your Job and Preterm Labor Risks?

If you have heard that doing too much physical work can increase your chance of going into labor too soon, new evidence is showing that may in fact be true.

Pregnant women are often told to "take it easy" and not lift anything heavy during pregnancy. Some of us while we were pregnant might have been limited by what we actually could do given our cumbersome and growing bellies! However, it would not be unusual to see pregnant women insisting that they were in fact "super women" and could do it all, including working in a stressful environment straight up to the time they went into labor.

New research is actually showing that women should slow down during pregnancy. In fact, strenuous physical labor and work may increase your chances of having preterm birth.

Canadian researchers interviewed about 6,000 mothers after birth regarding their work environment during pregnancy. Results showed an association between the mothers who had preterm birth and those who had a demanding physical posture for at least 3 hours per day, those who had whole-body vibrations as well as high levels of job stress in combination with a lack of support.

So if you are pregnant and experiencing either physical or emotional stress, consider changing your work environment to protect your baby!

Brenda