Mothers-to-be who exercise during the first six months of pregnancy are probably giving their babies a head start in cognitive development, according to a study published this month in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience [1].
The boon comes in the form of greater brain cortical thickness observable on neonatal MRI two weeks after the baby enters the world.
While the vitalizing effect doesn’t carry into the final trimester, senior author Xiawei Ou, PhD, and colleagues at the University of Arkansas state their study provides the first direct, imaging-based evidence that avoiding a sedentary lifestyle during a normal pregnancy promotes healthy brain development in human offspring.
To conduct the research, the authors recruited 44 mother/preborn pairs, asking the women to wear physical activity monitors for several consecutive days at six time points during pregnancy.
When the babies arrived—23 boys and 21 girls—the monitor data came in and the newborns were imaged (sleeping but not sedated) on a 1.5T scanner with a pediatric head coil.
The researchers found the brain benefits concentrated in several discrete regions of the infant gyrus:
- At four to 10 weeks of pregnancy (first trimester), mothers’ daily total activity count positively correlated with newborn cortical thickness in the left caudal middle frontal gyrus, right medial orbital frontal gyrus and right transverse temporal gyrus.
- Also in this time frame, mothers’ daily time in moderate activity mode positively correlated with newborn cortical thickness in the right transverse temporal gyrus.
- At 24 weeks of pregnancy (second trimester), mother’s daily total activity count positively correlated with newborn cortical thickness in the left and right isthmus cingulate gyrus.
“All of the significant correlations and potential correlations we identified suggested that higher maternal physical activity and less sedentary behavior during pregnancy is associated with greater cortical thickness and presumably better cortical development in newborns,” Ou and co-authors write in their discussion.
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Interestingly, we did not find significant relationships between newborn’s cortical brain development and mother’s physical activity level during late pregnancy. While limited sample size may be one of the reasons for this, it is also possible that physical activity during early pregnancy has a more prominent impact on fetal cortical brain development, as some literature has suggested that physical activity promotes neurogenesis in human and animal models which primarily occurs during early pregnancy.”
The journal has posted the study in full for free.
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.