{"id":471265,"date":"2026-06-11T02:23:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T02:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/471265\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T02:23:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T02:23:15","slug":"pregnant-women-warned-of-one-factor-that-raises-risk-of-high-blood-pressure-and-pre-eclampsia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/471265\/","title":{"rendered":"Pregnant women warned of one factor that raises risk of high blood pressure and pre-eclampsia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spending too much time sitting and not moving enough during pregnancy<\/a> has been linked to a heightened risk of developing serious high blood pressure complications<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Researchers found that over 10 hours of inactivity and fewer than five hours of light exercise<\/a> daily \u201cexponentially\u201d increased this likelihood, regardless of trimester.<\/p>\n

High blood pressure<\/a> disorders affect between 8 and 10 per cent of all pregnancies, according to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.<\/p>\n

These include gestational high blood pressure, which develops in women with previously normal blood pressure after 20 weeks, and pre-eclampsia, a serious complication that can be symptomless<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pre-eclampsia is most common from 20 weeks onwards but can manifest at any point during pregnancy, and sometimes in the days and weeks after birth<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It can also develop into eclampsia, a severe and life-threatening complication which can cause seizures or a coma.<\/p>\n

\"470<\/p>\n

470 pregnant women were tracked for the study (PA Archive)<\/p>\n

For the study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, researchers analysed results from 24-hour activity trackers on 470 women.<\/p>\n

The data included levels of intense exercise, light exercise, sedentary time and sleep over seven days at a time in each trimester.<\/p>\n

Of the group, almost one in five (18 per cent) developed a high blood pressure disorder.<\/p>\n

The lowest risk was linked to six hours of inactivity a day with an average of eight hours light exercise, seven minutes of moderate or vigorous exercise and 10 hours of sleep.<\/p>\n

Risks rose sharply in women who spent 10 or more hours sedentary and fewer than five hours moving, regardless of which trimester of pregnancy they were in.<\/p>\n

Women should limit being inactive to eight hours a day, with concurrent increases in light exercise to seven hours a day, to have the best chance of avoiding these conditions, researchers said.<\/p>\n

Experts also called for more research to test if behavioural interventions that get women moving during pregnancy could reduce the risk of high blood pressure and improve maternal cardiovascular health.<\/p>\n

Reacting to the findings, Clare Livingstone, head of professional policy and practice at the Royal College of Midwives, said: \u201cPre-eclampsia is a complex condition and there are some factors that can increase risk, which are often outside a woman\u2019s control.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore research is needed to understand the relationship between activity levels and pregnancy outcomes.<\/p>\n

\u201cStaying active during pregnancy can bring benefits for physical and mental wellbeing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, every pregnancy is different and there can be many reasons \u2013 including existing health conditions, pregnancy complications, disability and caring responsibilities \u2013 that affect how much activity is possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cMidwives will be able to give personalised advice to women on how to reduce individual risk with the most appropriate activity and exercise.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important thing is that all women have access to high-quality maternity care and know the signs and symptoms of conditions such as pre-eclampsia so they can seek help if needed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spending too much time sitting and not moving enough during pregnancy has been linked to a heightened risk…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[238148,1378,3248,134,1606,111,139,69,108145,5994,238147],"class_list":["post-471265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-activity-levels","tag-blood-pressure","tag-exercise","tag-health","tag-high-blood-pressure","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-pre-eclampsia","tag-pregnancy","tag-pregnancy-complications"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}