Debina Bonnerjee regularly monitors her heart rate; know why it is important for pregnant women

“To not only track the calories burnt, but also to monitor my heart rate! My trainer insists that I wear it,” she captioned the post. In the picture, her heart rate during the exercise routine — the average maximum number of times her heart beats per minute — is 101bpm.

Debina Bonnerjee on tracking workout parameters (Source: Debina Bonnerjee/Instagram Stories)

In adults, the normal range is between 60-100 bpm, and is best to be under 95 bpm, Dr R Ravi Kumar MD DM, senior cardiologist and clinical lead, Heart Failure and Heart Transplant MGM Healthcare Chennai told indianexpress.com. “A woman’s heart rate, in the early period of pregnancy, should be in the normal range. Persistent heart rate above 100 bpm should be evaluated to check for underlying conditions like low haemoglobin levels, urinary tract infections, arrhythmia (irregular heart beat), etc. The latter period of pregnancy most often sees higher heart rate of around 110bpm,” he added.

All pregnant and postpartum women without contraindication should, according to World Health Organization (WHO), do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity throughout the week, incorporate a variety of aerobic and muscle-strengthening activities, and should limit the amount of time spent being sedentary. “Replacing sedentary time with physical activity of any intensity (including light intensity) provides health benefits,” noted WHO.

Dr Kumar mentioned that pregnant women should adhere to doing 70-75 per cent of their previous physical activity including walking, strength training, yoga etc under guidance and should not overstrain their capacities.

Aerobic exercise strengthens the heart and lungs and helps maintain muscle tone. Low-impact aerobics includes lower body stretches and stationary cycling, said certified personal trainer Tavdeep Singh, founder, Deep Fitness Studio in an earlier interaction with indianexpress.com.

Bala Krishna Reddy Dabbedi, a fitness expert and co-founder, director at FITTR told indianexpress.com that “in general, it is critical to maintain a stable heart rate for an individual’s good cardiovascular health“.

“A well trained athlete’s heart rate can go as low as 40 beats per minute also, which is considered to be extremely good. It is good to monitor one’s cardiovascular fitness regularly. Whether pregnant or not, it’s good to stay in the normal range,” Dabbedi noted. Agreed, Dr J. Karthik Anjaneyan, interventional cardiologist, Gleneagles Global Health City, Chennai and said that middle-aged people should also be very careful about how much heart rate they should have, what is the maximum heart rate and what is the reading attained during exercises. Pregnant ladies should also keep a tab on the heart rate. But the increase in heart rate may be 20 to 25 percent on their base line heart rate. It is totally an acceptable phenomenon,” he said.

Interestingly, a study published in December 2021 in BMJ, titled ‘Effectiveness of physical activity monitors in adults: systematic review and meta-analysis’ studied data from 121 randomised control trials and 141 study comparisons with more than 16,000 participants, and noted that “using fitness apps increased everyday physical activity by an equivalent of 1,235 steps, and moderate and vigorous physical activity by 48.5 minutes a week”.

Pregnancy and heart rate: what to know (Photo: Pexels)

Experts suggest using trackers “judiciously to understand your body and set the right kind of goals for yourself depending on your individual capacity and what you wish to achieve, and then monitor those goals on a weekly or daily basis to track your progress”. Pallavi Barman, business head and fitness ambassador at HRX, said one should “not just read trackers, but should be reading into them — “learn how to make good of what it reflects and then reflect upon it”. “When you understand all these health parameters, you are able to exercise caution and take the right steps that will steer you in the direction of maintaining good heart health,” she said.

Dr Kumar advised it is best to take tracker readings as a warning sign and seek medical consultation at the earliest to avoid complications at a later stage.

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