Potential benefits of Yoga in pregnancy-related complications during the COVID-19 pandemic and implications for working women

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Pregnancy is a vulnerable period of growth and enrichment along with many physiological and psychological challenges. These changes can lead to complications if compounded by external stress and anxiety. COVID-19 has emerged as a chief stressor among the general population and is a serious threat among vulnerable populations. Therefore, there is a need for stress management tools, such as Yoga and physical exercises, both at home and at work. These can be adopted during the pandemic with proper maintenance of social distancing. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate and compile literature that has reported the health outcomes of Yoga intervention on pregnancy at the workplace and analyzes both the restrictions as well as advantages of its beneficial effects in comparison to physical exercises. METHODOLOGY: A comprehensive literature review was conducted utilizing PubMed and Google Scholar. The keywords used for the search include “Yoga”, “work”, “complications”, “physical exercise”, “drugs” and “COVID” indifferent permutations and combinations with “pregnancy”. We compiled the literature with respect to pregnancy complications and the effects of drugs, physical activity and Yoga for preventing these complications. RESULTS: We noted that pregnancy-related complications are becoming more prevalent because of a sedentary lifestyle, restricted physical activity and growing stress. In such situations, a home or workplace Yoga protocol can combine both exercise and mindfulness-based alleviation of anxiety for both working and non-working women. CONCLUSION: Yoga can be effective for combating stress and anxiety besides boosting immunity in pregnant working women confronted with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Psychological outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic among pregnant women in Indonesia: a cross-sectional study

“…The rate of experiencing anxiety was also higher among pregnant women who worked, who have a higher risk of psychological distress than pregnant women who do not work [ 40 ]. This may be due to having to carry out work-related activities in pandemic conditions, in addition to experiencing pregnancy [ 41 ].…”

Effect of Home-Based Tele-Pilates Intervention on Pregnant Women: A Pilot Study

“…Pregnant women who performed voluntary exercise after COVID-19 were shown to have a lower index of depressive disorder than the control group with a sedentary lifestyle. Moreover, the insomnia severity index was alleviated in the group that performed yoga [ 14 ]. Therefore, physical activity can partially alleviate the psychological instability in pregnant women in the context of COVID-19.…”

Prenatal Anxiety and Exercise. Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Due to the similarity of symptoms, it is possible to speculate that the reduction in prenatal depression symptoms observed after exercise interventions reported in recent systematic reviews [ 14 , 32 ] could be comparable and transferable to prenatal anxiety outcomes. This idea is demonstrated in other systematic reviews, showing better results in the intervention than in the control groups [ 33 , 34 ].…”