From the NY Times:
Evidently, there are a lot fewer preemies being born nowadays. They don’t know why. My theory is that with people being at home more, they are going through less physical stress; I told my husband “Well, I’m basically on bed rest right now!” (I’m not - and I sure as hell am not pregnant… but that’s about the level of activity).
I’ll believe it to be a benefit if we don’t have an increase in miscarriages
Or is it a increase in stress?
Physical exercise (which if not done to extremes, is not a form of stress) before and during pregnancy actually results in better natal outcomes. It’s more likely the decrease in preemies is caused by a combination of more exercise (walking the dog more or whatever) and less time being chairbound at a desk at work.
Perhaps a certain number of premature births have been induced unnecessarily over the years.