Gyms and Pregnancies
Everyday expecting mothers are getting advice from multiple faucets, with some having good reasoning and facts behind them while others are just old wise tales that elderly people might tell them. Although all this advice comes with good intentions, it can still be very frustrating to get opposing information, especially if they both come with serious consequences. With such an easy access to technology there is an unlimited amount of information out in the world, that could further confuse a mother if she was trying to find the most scientifically supported or even ethical answer to any one of her troublesome questions. Doctors nowadays do not discuss the real harms that a pregnant woman should avoid. They only talk about the obvious harms like drugs and alcohol, and never mention the possibly thousands of threats that are everywhere that could cause adverse impacts to a child’s health. Considering there are more products that are releasing every day and they are all manufactured in different countries that have different regulations, it is now incredibly important that pregnant women are more cautious compared to those in the past.
Among one of those head aching questions, is mothers wondering if they should continue being physically active while pregnant. While older people say working out could put the mother and baby in unnecessary dangers, many people and scientists can all agree on the fact that pregnant women need to remain active and continue doing some sort of physical activity in their daily lifestyle to keep both mother and child healthy and safe. The real risks that pregnant women are exposed to while working out is not the workout itself, but what the gyms can harbor while they workout and the risks don’t necessarily come from the bacteria and germs that are typically present at these types of facilities. Gyms can be alarmingly dangerous to a pregnant woman and her fetus and that might deter pregnant women to go to the gym and just continue working out at somewhere else that could be more or less harmful. Although there are many health benefits for the child and the expecting mother to go to the gym, would it be worth the price of the mother and the gym owners to make the gyms and other similar fitness centers more environmentally healthy?
Disinfectants
One of the most dangerous aspects of gyms is how many gyms attempt to keep their facilities incredibly clean by using very intense disinfectant sprays. The issue with these attempts is that the majority of the cleaners or sprays have quaternary ammonium compounds that can seriously inhibit the growth of a child and can cause diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s diseases, and autism (Melin et al. 2014). This problem may seem impossible to tackle and maybe a little counter-intuitive since people generally want intensely disinfected facilities, but one of the best methods out there to handle the problem is green cleaning. Green cleaning is alternative method of cleaning that does not include all the dangerous chemicals in toxins normally found in cleaners.
Many people are familiar with the alternative methods to cleaning households. These methods include lemon juice, vinegar, ammonia, baking soda and borax. These may be good alternatives in the household to get rid of daily dirt and grime people track into their homes, however, the question is, how would they hold up to the excessive sweating and dirt that people bring into fitness centers that gym owners cannot control? When alternative methods were tested against traditional household disinfectants, they were only shown to get rid of soil and dirt and that was purely from excessive physical scrubbing. The remaining results were conflicting because only vinegar was seen to remove the most microbes, yet the least amount of soil. Borax was seen to get rid of the most soil and dirt, yet the least amount of microbes (Olsen et al, 1994). Additionally, if a sponge or cloth is used, then that would also need to be cleaned and disinfected to make sure that all the microbes and dirt are gone. In other words, converting to alternative methods would be more labor intensive and would require more steps than just using one type of spray and disposable napkins.
Although gyms want to appear healthy and clean and use really intense and harsh chemicals or hospital grade sprays to disinfect their equipment, it would probably be more cost effective for the gym to switch to alternative ways. They would save money from the price of the sprays which averages to $36.95 a gallon compared to a gallon of vinegar which is $3.98, but this might come at the cost of the extra workers needed to perform the manual labor and if they did want to be more sustainable and switch to clothes or sponges to clean that would also need to be considered. Overall, the health of the gym goers would most likely be improved from alternative methods of cleaning because there is a lower risk when it comes to what the cleaners are made of, while they continue to pursue a healthy lifestyle. The main concern when using alternative methods is if they can kill enough microbes, and if they are making the gym clean enough for the large number of people who walk in and out of the facility. With that being said, more research needs to be done on this particular topic to answer the question effectively.
Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)
Along with disinfectants, gyms are also lined with cushioned materials and yoga mats. Although yoga mats bring comfort to people who are working out and have currently been thrown into the mainstream culture as an effective workout, they are usually made with polyvinyl chloride or PVC. The cushioned materials on the floor that help protect the floor from people dropping their weights on to the ground are also made with PVC. PVC or more specifically the phthalates that make up PVC help the material become more flexible and help it absorb the impact from the various activities that they are used for.
The issue with PVC and phthalates is that it has been shown to cause birth defects in children whose mothers came in contact with the material. The FDA and European Union (EU) have conducted multiple risk assessments to see if certain phthalates are as dangerous as some scientific reports indicate they are, yet most governmental entities claim that they are mostly safe. Even though phthalates have been approved and are used in medical procedures and treatments, studies are still being conducted because reproductive issues are still being seen, all the while governmental officials are making it easier for these types of issues to occur (Heudorf et al, 2007).
Removing PVC from one’s life would be incredibly difficult to do considering how widely used they are. It is found in almost everything including products like food wraps, frames, and gym equipment; however, reducing the amount an expecting mother is in contact with would be a smart option. The only issue with switching to products without PVC is that those products are usually significantly more expensive than products with PVC. Purchasing a yoga mat from your local retail store can range anywhere from $10 to $30, however a PVC free yoga mat can cost anywhere from $42 to $360 for a larger mat. A mother who is concerned about her unborn child’s health would possibly want to invest in a safer yoga mat, yet for an average gym owner the prices may seem too high for them to reasonably switch considering how frequently they would need to replace the mats with the high usage they are being under.
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
The final large issue that lingers at gym’s is the amount of volatile organic compounds that accumulate inside the facilities. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, VOCs are emitted gases that can come from solids or liquids and can form naturally or be human caused. They also contain a wide range of chemicals that cause adverse long-term or short-term health defects and the amount increases by about two to five times more indoors because it is a more enclosed space with less ventilation compared to the outdoors.
VOCs can come from many things like furniture, gym equipment, wall paint, air fresheners, and even the cushioned mats. VOCs are already a threat to normal healthy people who are exposed to it daily, but when it comes to pregnant women, their children are more at risk. Unborn babies who are exposed to high levels of VOCs are seen to get high respiratory problems as they grow compared to the mothers who were not as highly exposed.
Some good options to get rid or lessen someone’s contact with VOCs would be starting with what the walls are painted with. Once the paint is on the walls, it can continue to release VOCs for the entire time. Luckily there are paints that are created free of VOCs, the only issue is that they can cost up to $15 more compared to paints with VOCs, further increasing the price since people usually need about two cans to paint one room. Yoga and other cushioned mats continue to be harmful because they also off gas the harmful chemicals that they are made with. Considering people breathe more frequently and heavier when they are working out, it would make sense if the facility was painted and used material that wouldn’t negatively impact people’s breathing and long-term health conditions.
Conclusion
Overall, avoiding everything that could harm an expecting mother and her child would be an impossible task. There are some risks that a mother will have to take because she physically cannot remove herself from the situation and it would be incredibly impractical. However, there are a lot of ways that expecting mothers could reduce impacts on their child when they work out or just in life that would not cost too much or be too much work. Alternative and green cleaning may not seem practical since it does not reduce many microbes, nonetheless the adverse chemicals in traditional sprays could potentially causes neurodevelopmental diseases. The same issue presents itself when we talk about PVC and VOCs. The costs are obviously going to be higher when you are thinking of the health of others, but it is worth it.
Even though this article is mainly about the harmful exposure that expecting mothers need to be aware of from their daily activities, it can also pertain to everybody else, especially to people who have sensitivities to certain chemicals like alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride (ADBAC), didecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride (DDAC), and Tetrasodium EDTA (Melin et al. 2014) (Waters et al. 2001). Many people who already have compromised health issues could have obtained it from their mothers who were not wary about certain exposures they may encounter as a result of their lifestyle choices and health behaviors. Everybody should see how the daily products they put on themselves, the clothes they wear, what type of furniture they have, the foods they consume, and the type of things they are exposed to at the workplace or leisure activity harms them. There are many trusted apps and website that can help someone on the journey of having a healthier lifestyle, that aren’t hard to use like the EWG (Environmental Working Group) app and ThinkDirty.
https://www.thinkdirtyapp.com/
The idea that people have faith and believe that the government and FDA are helping to protect us from all these harmful chemicals is worrisome. Especially since a majority of the time, companies will agree that their products are harmful, but they say it in a confusing way explaining that there are harmful chemicals but a lot of them won’t impact us or impact us badly enough and there is only a small amount of these incredibly dangerous chemical in the products, so the public shouldn’t worry about them. Since the government and other systems that are put into place aren’t doing their jobs of protecting the people, more people need to inform themselves on this topic. People, especially expecting mothers, need to be aware that there are many products that can harm you in multiple ways. The final question is how much are you willing to risk just to save a few dollars, is the health of your children enough?
Citations
Melin, V. E., Potineni, H., Hunt, P., Griswold, J., Siems, B., Werre, S. R., & Hrubec, T. C. (2014). Exposure to common quaternary ammonium disinfectants decreases fertility in mice. Reproductive toxicology, 50, 163–170.
Waters, R. S., Bryden, N. A., Patterson, K. Y., Veillon, C., & Anderson, R. A. (2001). EDTA chelation effects on urinary losses of cadmium, calcium, chromium, cobalt, copper, lead, magnesium, and zinc. Biological trace element research, 83(3), 207–221.
Heudorf, U., Mersch-Sundermann, V., & Angerer, J. (2007). Phthalates: toxicology and exposure. International journal of hygiene and environmental health, 210(5), 623–634.
