Physical activity among healthy pregnant women and its association with socio-demographic, obstetric characteristics and quality of sleep: A cross-sectional study

Since it has been proven that physical activity (PA) during pregnancy plays an important role in pregnancy health and outcomes, identifying and understanding the physical activity level among pregnant women and associated factors such as socio-demographics, Obstetric characteristics are the first step in designing optimal interventions. The present study aimed to describe the prevalence of physical activity, also to identify the association of physical activity with demographic and obstetric characteristics as well as the quality of sleep.

A cross-sectional study was conducted on 220 pregnant women who were referred to health centers in Babol, Iran. Physical activity, socio-demographics, obstetric characteristics, and quality of sleep were measured by questionnaires.  BMI was calculated by anthropometric measures.

Only one-sixth (16.9%) of the women in this study had physical activity as World Health Organization (WHO) recommended for pregnant women. There was no significant association between demographic characteristics and physical activity level during pregnancy. There also was no association between physical activity levels and sleep quality. However, there was a statistically significant relationship between maternal obstetrics characteristics such as gestational trimester, gravidity, and the number of children with physical activity levels (P<0.05).

Pregnant women have inactive lifestyles and most of the physical activities were done during the performance of household activities. Healthcare professionals and midwives should take action to encourage pregnant women to increase their physical activity levels during pregnancy.