Slow running benefits: Boosts in mood and facilitation of prefrontal cortex function even at very light intensity.

Childbirth is a unique and profound physiological experience in a woman’s life, yet it is also widely regarded as one of the most intense forms of pain that most women will ever encounter (, ). Labor pain involves not only physiological dimensions but also significant psychological stress, including anxiety, fear, and uncertainty (, ). If poorly managed, these negative emotions can impair the childbirth experience, heighten the risk of postpartum depression, and even disrupt mother-infant interaction and breastfeeding initiation (, ). Therefore, optimizing labor pain management and alleviating maternal anxiety, while ensuring maternal and neonatal safety, have become central objectives of modern obstetric care (, ). Traditionally, labor analgesia has relied primarily on pharmacological interventions, among which neuraxial anesthesia (e.g., epidural analgesia) is widely regarded as the “gold standard” for relieving labor pain (). However, pharmacological analgesia is not suitable for all parturients and may be associated with certain side effects, such as motor blockade, hypotension, urinary retention, prolonged labor, and maternal fever (, ). Furthermore, many healthy pregnant women who wish to minimize medical interventions prefer non-pharmacological methods to cope with labor pain, aiming to maintain alertness and mobility while achieving a more natural childbirth experience (, ). This demand has driven the development of non-pharmacological analgesic techniques, including hydrotherapy, massage, acupuncture, yoga, breathing techniques, and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) (). In recent years, the rapid advancement of digital technologies has opened new possibilities in obstetric care. Among these, virtual reality (VR), as an emerging immersive technology, exerts an analgesic effect by providing engaging audiovisual environments that distract parturients from pain signals (, ). Its theoretical foundation is the “distraction hypothesis”: when the brain is occupied by a flood of multisensory information from the virtual environment, its capacity to process pain signals is correspondingly reduced (). Simultaneously, artificial intelligence (AI) technology is increasingly being applied in obstetrics, particularly in the interpretation of fetal heart rate monitoring. AI-assisted fetal heart rate monitoring systems can analyze complex fetal heart rate data in real-time, assist clinical decision-making, and aim to identify fetal distress early for timely intervention, thereby alleviating maternal anxiety related to uncertainty about fetal well-being ().