Pregnancy is harder than marathons, science shows

October 30, 2025

In a groundbreaking 2019 study published in “Science Advances”, a scientific journal published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), evolutionary anthropologist Herman Pontzer of Duke University compared the metabolic strain of pregnancy to some of the world’s most extreme endurance feats like the Tour de France or a gruelling ultramarathon. The result? Pregnancy outlasts and outpaces them all. The Daily Star