Exercise during pregnancy boosts newborn brain development, researchers say

Exercise during pregnancy boosts newborn brain development, researchers say

Not so long ago, obstetricians told women to take it easy and rest throughout their pregnancy.

According to researchers at the University of Montreal and CHU Sainte-Justine children’s hospital, as little as 20 minutes of moderate exercise only three times per week during pregnancy actually enhances newborn brain development.  This developmental head start could have an impact on the child’s entire life.

“Our research indicates that exercise during pregnancy enhances the newborn child’s brain development,” explained Professor Dave Ellemberg, lead researcher of the study. “While animal studies have shown similar results, this is the first randomized controlled trial in humans to objectively measure the impact of exercise during pregnancy directly on the newborn’s brain. We hope these results will guide public health interventions and research on brain plasticity. Most of all, we are optimistic that this will encourage women to change their health habits, given that the simple act of exercising during pregnancy could make a difference for their child’s future.”

Ellemberg and his colleagues, Professor Daniel Curnier and PhD candidate Élise Labonté-LeMoyne, presented their findings at the Neuroscience 2013 conference in San Diego.

Not so long ago, obstetricians told women to take it easy and rest throughout their pregnancy. Recently, it has become commonly accepted that inactivity can actually be a health concern.

“While being sedentary increases the risks of suffering complications during pregnancy, being active can ease post-partum recovery, make pregnancy more comfortable and reduce the risk of obesity in the children,” Curier explained. “Given that exercise has been demonstrated to be beneficial for the adult’s brain, we hypothesized that it could also be beneficial for the unborn child through the mother’s actions.”

To verify this claim, starting at the beginning of the second trimester, study partcipants were randomly assigned to an exercise group or a sedentary group. Women in the exercise group had to perform at least 20 minutes of cardiovascular exercise three times per week at a moderate intensity. Women in the sedentary group did not exercise at all. Brain activity of the newborns was assessed between the ages of 8 to 12 days, by means of electroencephalography.

“We used 124 soft electrodes placed on the infant’s head and waited for the child to fall asleep on his or her mother’s lap. We then measured auditory memory by means of the brain’s unconscious response to repeated and novel sounds,” Labonté-LeMoyne said. “Our results show that the babies born from the mothers who were physically active have a more mature cerebral activation, suggesting that their brains developed more rapidly.”

 

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