Maternal exercise benefits newborn brain development
Prof. Dave Ellemberg, from the University of Montreal, conducted the research with his colleagues in partnership with the affiliated CHU Sainte-Justine children's hospital. They recently presented their research at the Neuroscience 2013 congress in San Diego, CA.
"Our research indicates that exercise during pregnancy enhances the newborn child's brain development," says Prof. Ellemberg.
He notes that comparable results have been found in animal studies, but theirs is the first trial in humans to show the link between exercise during pregnancy and benefits for the brains of newborns.
'Mature cerebral activation'
After the births of the newborns, the researchers analyzed their brain activity between the ages of 8 to 12 days. They used electroencephalography, allowing them to record the electrical activity of the newborns' brains.
The team placed 124 soft electrodes on each infant's head and then waited for each baby to fall asleep in his or her mother's lap, after which they measured "auditory memory" via the brain's "unconscious response" to both repeated and new sounds.
PhD candidate Élise Labonté-LeMoyne, who also conducted the research, reveals their findings:
"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."
