A recent article in The Globe and Mail caught my attention, as it discussed yet another benefit of exercise during pregnancy. This article discusses an abstract presented at the Neuroscience 2013 conference in San Diego, California. Researchers from University of Montreal examined exercise in pregnant women to assess its impact on newborn brain development.
They recruited women during their first trimester of pregnancy and randomly assigned them to an active or sedentary group. Active group women exercised for a minimum of 20 minutes, 3 times per week during their pregnancy, while those in the sedentary group exercised for 12 minutes per week. Newborn brains were then assessed 8-12 days after birth by electroencephalogram (EEG). The babies were played sounds to see if they could discriminate between different pitches, which was assessed by the size of the wave created on EEG. Those babies born to mothers from the active group had smaller waves, indicating less energy required to identify pitch changes, which in turn demonstrates heightened maturity.
Further information on this topic is required, as this is a small study that only assessed 18 newborns and this group is planning to reassess babies at one year of age for ongoing development. However, this is another good reminder to lace up your running shoes and hit the gym while pregnant. Besides all of the benefits for you, you may also be making your baby smarter!!
-Tannys
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