Limit outdoor exercise during pregnancy due to air pollution?

I

Idoc2HK

Registered User
Hello mums,

I greatly enjoy hiking and jogging in Hong Kong, however, my dear hubby is a bit paranoid about the air quality. We check the Air Quality Index (Beijing Air Pollution: Real-time PM2.5 Air Quality Index (AQI)) several times a day and he does not want me exercising outdoors if it is orange or above. What is your opinion? Have you limited your outdoor activities during pregnancy due to the air quality?

By the way, I am signed up to run the HK half marathon in two weeks. (I will be 10 weeks at that point.) What do you think? Should I run it or listen to my husband and skip it?

Thanks.
 
Quite interested to know if you decided to run the HK Marathon this past weekend. I'm not really into hiking all that much in HK. The pollution has been awful recently (well...it's usually pretty bad anyway...rare to have a non-orange or higher day) so I try my best not to spend much time outdoors at all which is sad as I miss the sunshine but I'm not willing to inhale particles that tear up my lungs and ruin my health--especially while I'm pregnant. I came down with pneumonia at the beginning of this month (at 36 weeks pregnant) and my 3-year-old has asthma so we watch the pollution levels religiously. If a day is an "orange" day we send her to school with a mask and she is not allowed to participate in outside physical activities. I always wear a mask outdoors in HK and I certainly am not running around and inhaling the polluted air into my lungs. I think it's a bad idea to exercise on high pollution days--no matter if you're pregnant or not but especially if you're pregnant, old or young.
 
Ldoc2HK.

Hope you're ok after the marathon. I think its best to listen to your body/ I know some mums who aren't effected at all, and others who get chesty coughs, watery eyes, sinus problems with the pollution.
 
thanka2,
Thanks for your response. I did not run the marathon. After the air quality hit "purple" last week I decided against it. Even though the air was better on race day, I figured it was a long time to be outdoors breathing heavily. I definitely get sinus problem which as Rani mentioned could be related. I think in the future I will stick to the gym if it is orange or worse.
 
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