After having a baby, taking care of your mental health can feel overwhelming, especially when movement starts to feel like just another expectation. But what if it could actually be a tool for healing instead? In today's episode, we are talking about how movement can be a tool for supporting mental health postpartum, and how this differs from returning to exercise.
Guest Speaker
In this episode we talked to Abigail. Abigail and co-host Lauren went to undergraduate together and both decided to pursue a career in occupational therapy. She is a pediatric occupational therapist with a passion for family centered care and holistic wellness. She recently completed her occupational therapy doctoral program and did a capstone project on maternal health and the impact of movement on mental well being. With a background in dance and a degree in kinesiology, she is passionate about movement for individuals of all ages and has experienced firsthand the impact that it can have on one's mental well being.
Abigail's Capstone Postpartum Resource
Her project was created because so many women are not given the information that they need before discharge and go home feeling unsure and unprepared. She noticed that exercise and movement are often used for maintaining positive mental health before someone gets pregnant, so how can we incorporate this into postpartum more to promote mental wellness?
She interviewed moms and created a series of 4 videos as resources for new moms:
- First video focused on the benefits of exercise on mental health
- Second video focused on routines and their impact on mental health
- Third video focused on reframing "exercise" to "movement," getting rid of the negative connotation and pressure around returning to exercise and understanding how simple movement is different
- Fourth video was about reclaiming your body and how to return to movement after birth safely
The "6 week check up" does not have to dictate when you are allowed to start moving!
Exercise versus Movement
When people were asked what exercise was they typically said high intensity workouts that increased heart rate. But when they were asked what movement was they typically described it as lower stress activities, such as going for a walk. Movement after birth can look different for everyone. It can be things such as walking around your house, picking up your baby, going for a short walk, or gentle stretching. It does not have to look like typical "exercise" to be beneficial. It is helpful to reframe your thoughts to "I am moving my body because it's good for my body and my mind" NOT "I am exercising to lose weight and look like I did before I was pregnant".
Why 6 Weeks?
The 6 week time frame was established based on typical healing processes. Around this time is typically when the uterus has returned to original size, internal organs have shifted back in place, and wounds have closed. This is based on a standard biological time frame of healing and it is important to recognize everyone's healing is a bit different, especially because of differing birth experiences and complications. This does not mean at 6 weeks everything is back to normal again.
Why Does Movement Benefit Our Mental Health?
Movement and exercise typically involve goal setting or a sense of achievement. This builds motivation and momentum to restore confidence in your body, which in turn supports mental wellness.
Movement also helps with executive functioning and higher order thinking. It can pull us out of "mom brain."
Movement helps modulate the fight or flight response. The fight or flight system is an involuntary reaction controlled by our sympathetic nervous system. It helps us respond to a perceived threat and prepares the body to respond, such as increasing the heart rate and breathing rate. With some mental health conditions our fight or flight response is triggered even when there is not an actual physical threat. When we exercise, it trains our brains on when it is appropriate to go into fight or flight. It allows us to develop a tolerance for it and become less reactive to stress. This allows our body to more easily recognize when we do not need to be in that state, which helps to decrease mental health concerns especially panic or anxiety.
What Can You Do?
- Work on healing your pelvic floor and core muscles. Your core and pelvic floor muscles were impacted with pregnancy and birth so taking deep breaths helps them recover and heal. These muscles are the foundation to returning to higher intensity exercise later on.
- Practice deep breathing. Lay on the floor and take note of how it feels to take a deep breath.
- Pelvic tilts video demonstration
- Walking
- Become comfortable checking in with your body and noticing how it feels, even if your new body is different or makes you feel uncomfortable.
- Start planning and having conversations before you give birth. Who are the people that are going to support you through this and what are things they can do to help you if you start struggling with your mental health postpartum?
- Be open to what movement postpartum could look like. Try new things!
- Community! Moving with other people has even more of a positive impact on your mental health than movement alone.
- Listen to your body. Listen for signs that you are overexerting yourself (increased pain, dizziness).
Resources
- Study on the benefits of movement on mental health
- Study on physical activity during pregnancy and postpartum
- Video to assess where you are at physically as you return to movement and exercise
- Pregnancy and Postpartum TV YouTube channel
This article is a companion to Episode 12 of the Functional Fourth Trimester podcast.