Vasaloppet – for a better pregnancy?

Useful for skiing? definitely. Not least for the women – and indeed – their children. Women who administer Vasaloppet are less likely to have complications related to pregnancy and childbirth.

“Following in the footsteps of fathers for future victories”?

certainly. Vasaloppsmålet has carried this motto since the artist Gustave Encarronaincidentally from Leksand, composed for the 1923 Vasalopp.

Since then it’s been there – and now it’s time to add.

Write “In the footsteps of mothers for future births.”

It applies to lifestyle

New research, presented in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, states that women who ride a Vasaloppet have a lower risk of suffering complications related to pregnancy and childbirth.

Well one is quick to point out that maybe it is not the skiing itself that is the deciding factor but a more active lifestyle, but anyway.

It is a large study conducted at Uppsala University behind the results.

“Previous studies in the area were usually small, but now we’ve studied the health data of more than 200,000 people,” says the researcher. Catherine Exfors at Uppsala University.

Does it differ in size?

The purpose of the study was to find out if women who exercise a lot and have a high level of fitness have different risks of pregnancy and childbirth complications compared to other women.

In the study, they took health data from about 15,000 women who sometime before pregnancy ran a race during the week of Vasallops.

Their results were then compared to 194,000 women who had never participated in the race.

Speed ​​skaters in Vasaloppet – less risk

The study shows that skiers have a lower risk of gestational diabetes, severe weight gain during pregnancy, psychological morbidity and caesarean section.

Fast skaters also had a lower risk of this complication than slow skaters.

For those who want to dig deeper into this topic, the current study is called “Pre-pregnancy participation and performance in the world’s largest cross-country ski race as a predictor of physical exercise, physical fitness, and perinatal outcome: a prospective, registry-based cohort study.“, a title nearly as tall as Vasalopp but probably not as health-granting. You’ll find it here.

Read also: Why do Russian women give birth in Argentina? [Dagens PS]