JAMA
Sit less, move more during pregnancy
Clinical Takeaway: Pregnant patients who spent less time sitting and more time in light daily movement had substantially lower rates of adverse pregnancy outcomes. These findings suggest that “sit less, move more” counseling may offer a practical adjunct to standard exercise recommendations during pregnancy, particularly for patients unable to meet higher-intensity activity goals.
Pregnant women often struggle to meet standard exercise targets, and many spend much of the day sedentary because of fatigue, discomfort, and other pregnancy-related barriers to activity. Researchers evaluated whether lower-intensity movement patterns throughout the day may influence the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes.
In a large cohort study of 470 pregnant participants, activity patterns were tracked throughout all three trimesters of pregnancy. Women with higher sedentary time had substantially greater risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes, while those with the highest levels of light daily movement had approximately half the risk seen in the least active group.
Higher daily step counts were also associated with better outcomes. Women with moderate or high step patterns experienced fewer adverse pregnancy outcomes than those with the lowest step counts, even after accounting for moderate-to-vigorous exercise levels and pre-pregnancy body mass index.
Adverse pregnancy outcomes included hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, gestational diabetes, preterm birth, and infants who were small for gestational age.
The findings may be clinically relevant because they suggest that reducing prolonged sitting and increasing routine movement throughout the day could represent a more attainable behavioral target for some pregnant patients than structured exercise goals alone.
“Optimizing lighter-intensity activity patterns in pregnancy should be rigorously tested as a novel and practical strategy to improve pregnancy health outcomes,” the study authors concluded.
Source: Barone Gibbs B, et al. (2026, May 27). JAMA. Adverse pregnancy outcomes and sedentary behavior, light-intensity physical activity, and daily steps