5 Activities (You May Not Have Known) to Avoid During Pregnancy

Most pregnant women understand the potential dangers of engaging in activities like contact sports and high impact exercises during pregnancy. For this reason, some mom-to-be’s avoid strenuous activities over the course of their pregnancy to protect the health of their unborn baby.

While some activities have been known to pose problems, it’s still acceptable (and most often encouraged) to continue low-impact exercises (like walking or yoga) during pregnancy. Exercising in moderation will help keep you healthy and active, which will ultimately improve the health of your baby.

There are many exercises and activities that promote good health during pregnancy but there are also some that pregnant women should be cautious of.

Here are 5 activities (you may not have known) to avoid during pregnancy:

1. Saunas, hot tubs, tanning booths. This has forever been a question posed by pregnant women. Are saunas, hot tubs and tanning booths dangerous to the baby? The answer yes. High levels of heat can be potentially harmful to your baby so avoid these activities as much as possible.
2. Cleaning the cat’s litter box. Personally (and perhaps it’s because I don’t own any cats) cleaning a cat’s litter box would never have crossed my mind as a potential danger to my baby. However, cat feces often transmit an infection called toxoplasmosis. This is known to cause severe problems in newborns, specifically low birth weight, convulsions, mental retardation and jaundice.
3. Painting. Time to set the brush aside and leave the hands-on work to your friends. Paint is known to emit toxic substances and chemicals that can have an unhealthy effect on your baby.
4. Riding Roller Coasters. Sure, there a ton of fun but, for the duration of your pregnancy, you’re going to have to refrain from riding the biggest, baddest coasters (okay, let’s face it, you have to refrain from riding even the smallest of them).
5. Running. You may be getting slightly more self-conscience of your body as your pregnancy progresses but now is not the time to try and run off the pounds. If you’ve always been a runner, it’s okay to continue in moderation but if you didn’t run before you were pregnant, now is not the time to re-create your workout regime.

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