Pregnant women can take a hot bath
WOMeN can safely relax in hot baths or saunas while pregnant without harming their unborn baby, a study has claimed – as long as they take no longer than 20 minutes.
the NhS recommends that mothers-to-be only take warm baths, particularly early on in pregnancy, to avoid risk of miscarriage or premature birth, but researchers claimed
last night that the advice is overcautious. It is believed that raising the body’s temperature too high can lead to a drop in blood pressure, which carries a risk of reducing the amount of oxygen and nutrients a foetus gets.
the study by the University of Sydney looked at how spending 20 minutes in the bath – at 40C – and saunas – at 70C – pushed up core body temperatures. they also looked at how exercising in warm environments, such as aqua aerobics, affected a woman’s temperature.
they analysed the results of 12 studies, involving 347 women at various stages of pregnancy, and their response to ‘heat stress’ either through exercise, baths and saunas, and found that none of the women exceeded the recommended core temperature limit of 39C.
they found the highest average core temperature was 36.9C for hot water bathing and 37.6C for sauna exposure, as well as 38.3C for exercise on land and 37.5C for exercise in water.
As a result, they say that women can sit in a hot bath or sauna for 20 minutes, irrespective of what stage of pregnancy they are at.
however, the findings contradict current NhS advice that pregnant women should avoid heat.
Dr virginia Beckett, consultant obstetrician and spokesman for the royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: ‘While this new study did not find a rise in core temperature of up to the recommended limit, either through exercise or through passive heating, such as using a sauna or sitting in a hot bath, we continue to recommend that pregnant women follow NhS advice and take care when exercising and being in warm temperatures by drinking plenty of water before and after.’
‘Drink plenty of water’