Pregnancy uses the SAME amount of energy as RACING an ultra-marathon or the Tour De France - survey proves it!
Boom!
By Frances Sheen
June 10 2019
Yesss! We always knew it!
A new study has proved that being pregnant requires EXACTLY the same level of endurance as an athlete competing in a triathlon, the Tour De France or an ultra-marathon.
Clearly any woman who has ever been pregnant knows that the strength and energy required to carry another human being is exhausting and relentless... but this is scientific proof that mums are as strong and committed as the world's greatest athletes.
Yep, obvious, right?
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The scientists claim pregnancy pushes the body to the same extremes as endurance events like an Ironman competition.
Researchers analysed performance data from athletes competing in the Race Across The U.S.A.—a gruelling 4,800 km, 120 day race from California to Washington DC — and compared it to a variety of other endurance activities, like pregnancy.
Researchers were surprised to find that the maximum energy expenditure among endurance athletes was only slightly higher than the metabolic rate of women during pregnancy.
Study co-author Herman Pontzer, an associate professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University, says, “Human mothers have the biggest children and the longest pregnancies of all apes.
“Every mother who has gone through a pregnancy has experienced that effort themselves.”
And clearly Herman Pontzer is one intelligent man because he believes that being pregnant isn't just physically exhausting but it can take its toll mentally too - and now there is research to prove it. "If you think about it, [pregnancy] is like the ultimate endurance activity," Pontzer added.
We could not agree more!
