Lesser supports postpartum women returning to exercise

Dr. Iris Lesser was surprised to find a dearth of resources and information about postpartum physical activity when her first child was born. Nine years later, Iris, an associate professor of kinesiology at UFV, is meeting that need with inclusive, accessible exercise content for every mother who needs it.

Even as an experienced athlete with a PhD in exercise physiology, Iris was confused about best practices after giving birth.

“I was absolutely shocked at how little support there was for moms. Luckily I had a lot of knowledge, but even that knowledge wasn’t really enough for me to understand. I asked myself questions such as, can I be running? Should I not be running? Do I need to do rehabilitation? How do I deal with the fact that I’m not sleeping at all, but I need to move my body for my mental health? What can that look like?”

With the help of UFV kinesiology students, she’s been running studies, workshops, and movement interventions, and creating reference materials to answer these questions for others. When creating images and video references, it was important to her that they reflect real postpartum bodies and actual home environments. The feedback she collected from participants was clear: no to glamorous gym outfits, six-pack abs, perfect hairdos and pristine backgrounds. Yes to mess! Yes to bare faces, visible scars and stretched skin; yes to toys and laundry on the ground.

“The whole point was to show what it looks like to be active with a baby,” Iris says. “We tried to capture as much of that as we could. One of our beautiful models showed her stomach and what her overhang looked like after a C-section, and really showed the joy behind having had a baby, and having a body that was able to do that.”

Iris’s research showed that comparison to perfect online images could really damage the self-efficacy, self-compassion and confidence of postpartum mothers just returning to exercise (on top of other barriers such as the unequal distribution of domestic labour, less free time, and high levels of burnout). And they don’t need those extra obstacles: at the exact time when people are most exhausted and vulnerable, physical activity is especially crucial to preventing mental health challenges.

“It’s probably one of the hardest times to figure out how to navigate moving your body. Rates of postpartum depression are very high, and they are continuing to go up,” Iris says.

“We know from systematic reviews that physical activity is actually more effective than medication in supporting postpartum depression. The goal is not to achieve weight loss or imagery change, but to find some time to focus on yourself, to have the energy to engage with your baby.”

Iris collaborated with UFV’s Community Health and Social Innovation Hub (CHASI) to create realistic, relatable images and videos with volunteers from the local community as models to demonstrate exercises that fit the needs of those who’ve given birth.

Jeff Mijo-Burch, CHASI’s communications and design specialist, loved being a part of the project, taking many of the photos and videos himself.

“CHASI’s knowledge mobilization team’s focus is always on ensuring that research reaches the people it matters to most, in ways that resonate with them. The postpartum period is a time when families are digesting a lot of information and may be overwhelmed and pulled in a million directions, so we’ve worked to mobilize the research in ways that meet them where they’re at.”

Though postpartum is a fleeting period of life, Iris believes it’s a pivotal moment for understanding yourself, your body, and how to prioritize your wellness — and those lessons have far-reaching impact for years to come.

“It’s a tipping point in women’s health,” she explains. “So, the more you can support at that point in time, the more of an influence you can have all the way downstream, in terms of what it means to be a mom and to still take care of your health. Part of equity in healthcare is having an opportunity for everyone to be able to move their bodies.”