Pregnancy and Exercise: Helps Baby’s Brain

Moderate exercise during pregnancy enhances newborn baby’s brain development. It’s been decades since women were routinely prescribed lots of bed rest during pregnancy…and that’s a good thing. New research shows expectant moms who exercise may be doing a great thing for their babies brain development.

Researchers recruited women during their first trimester…and randomly assigned them to an active group…or a sedentary one.

The active group was asked to exercise a minimum of 20 minutes, three times per week at a moderate intensity. The sedentary group was not asked to exercise.

Then 8 to 12 days after birth…their babies had EEG’s and other tests to measure brain activity.

The babies born to mothers who were physically active had a more mature cerebral activation, suggesting that their brains developed more rapidly than those born after months of inactivity.

The researchers are now in the process of evaluating the children’s cognitive, motor and language development at age 1 to verify if the positive impact of exercise is sustained.