2025-08-25
5 分钟Hello, this is Rosie Bloor, co-host of The Intelligence, our daily news and current affairs podcast.
Welcome to Editor's Picks.
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Consult the internet on what to avoid while pregnant, and the answer seems to be everything.
Worried women can find advice suggesting that they abstain from sex,
spicy foods, swimming and sunscreen.
In fact, all are fine.
It might be wiser to avoid Google.
Other things such as smoking, drinking alcohol and eating mercury-rich seafood,
though, are rightly regarded as dangerous.
Heat should be on that list too.
Being too hot for too long is bad for anyone.
But physiological changes in pregnancy, such as a faster metabolism,
greater heat production and heavier demands on the heart,
make expectant women particularly vulnerable to higher temperatures,
with worrying consequences for mother and child.
Improvements in maternal and newborn health,
once a key concern for governments and humanitarian agencies, have stalled in recent years.
That's due in part to attention shifting to other issues, including climate change.