Knowledge Attitude and Practice of Pregnant Women Towards Physical Exercise in Agege Local Government Area of Lagos State, Nigeria

Introduction: Pregnancy is a good time to develop a healthy lifestyle in pregnant women which includes physical exercise. The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of physical exercise among pregnant women in Agege local government area in Lagos state, Nigeria. Methodology: A cross-sectional survey method was used; 400 pregnant women were recruited into the study using convenience sampling technique. A structured and validated questionnaire was designed to assess knowledge, attitude and practice of pregnant women towards physical exercise was used to collect data. All the results were tested at 0.05 level of confidence. Results: The result showed that 36% of the pregnant women were between the age of 21-25 years and more than 35% were between 15-20 years, more than (71%) of the women have heard about physical exercise. Nevertheless, only 52% of the pregnant women engaged in physical exercise. Most (54.0%) of them actually prefer domestic activities over real physical exercise. The result suggests that women’s knowledge concerning physical exercise during pregnancy is reasonable and their attitude is positive; however, a large number do not practice physical exercise. Antenatal program may be tailored into introducing guided physical exercise and introduce pregnant women into guided models of fitting exercises for each trimester. Conclusion: Physical exercise in pregnancy is important to aid bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that results in energy expenditure. Exercise is a subset of physical activity that is planned, structured, and repetitive and has as objective to improve or maintain physical fitness. Physical activity and exercise promote health and longevity, and minimal adherence to current physical activity guidelines is associated with a significant 20-30% reduction in risk of all-cause mortality. Pregnancy leads to a reduced level of physical activity for most women, the activity level is often further reduced throughout pregnancy, and the pre-pregnancy exercise level is usually not regained six months after childbirth