Exercise During Pregnancy Enhances Newborn Brain's Development

Exercise during pregnancy enhances a newborn brain's development, a new study found.

The study, led by researchers from the University of Montreal and the affiliated CHU Sainte-Justine children's hospital, found that as little as 20 minutes of moderate exercise three times a week can impact a child throughout his or her life.

Up until recently, women were largely told to rest during their pregnancy. Through studies like this one, however, that advice is changing.

"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," co-author Daniel Curnier said in a statement. "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."

The researchers looked at women randomly assigned during their second trimester to either an exercise or sedentary group. Those in the exercise group performed a minimum of 20 minutes of cardiovascular activity three times per week at a moderate intensity. Those in the sedentary group did not exercise at all. The brain activity of the newborns was then measured when they were between 8 and 12 day old.

"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," Ph.D. candidate élise 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."

Based on the results, lead author Dave Ellemberg said he hopes to see an increased focus in public health and in research on the subject of pregnancy and exercise.

"Most of all," he said, "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."

The researchers plan on reviewing the children's cognitive, motor and language development at age one in order to determine whether or not the changes hold.