To carry a baby for nine months and give birth to it is one of the most impressive feats the human body can do. Well, some human bodies, anyway. It takes an incredible amount of strength , but if for some reason there were people who couldn’t comprehend that, now there’s a metric for it.
A recent study compares the energy expenditure by marathon runners and other extreme athletes and pregnant people, and the result only reinforces their strength.
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It’s no surprise that anyone who goes through the process of pregnancy and childbirth is incredibly strong.
It’s taxing in every sense, mentally and physically, often leaving the mother-to-be exhausted. Not to mention the number of potential health issues surrounding pregnancy due to the toll it takes on the body.
Some recent research shines a light on just how much energy simply being pregnant takes.
Published in the science journal Science Advances, this study compares pregnant people to long-distance runners.
They have a surprising amount in common, the biggest being the fact that they both push their bodies to the limits of human endurance. When it came to energy expenditure, extreme athletes only rank slightly higher than pregnant people.
Not only that, but other studies have looked into the effects of pregnancy on the body.
Again compared to runners, namely marathon runners this time. In both cases, the participants tend to forget just how painful the experience was despite it being a traumatic experience for the body.
It’s important to note, too, the difference in starting points between mothers and runners.
When gearing up to run a marathon, the runner is well-rested and has sufficiently prepared themselves for the run. On the other hand, pregnancy drains one of their energy for nine months before actually giving birth. That energy drain grows even stronger in the final weeks of pregnancy.
Not to mention the aftermath, too.
Marathon runners sustain injuries all the time, as do pregnant people. The difference being that runners are more likely to seek help and to receive it, while postpartum injuries and stresses sometimes aren’t taken as seriously despite their frequency.
The injuries the two parties receive are even similar in nature: muscle strain and stress fractures.
The depth with which we’re able to understand the strain of pregnancy will hopefully go on to help pregnant people in the future.
As for now, continue to treat any pregnant person in your life with a little more care and love. Or go train for a marathon so you can maybe know just how they feel on delivery day.
h/t: Motherly
