Exercise Builds Bigger Babies

Women who exercise moderately while pregnant are positively impacting the growth of their babies, according to the results of a recent study in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Researchers from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, studied 46 pregnant women, all of whom were previously sedentary.

Half of the women participated in moderate weightbearing exercise, three to five days per week for the majority of their pregnancies. The other half remained sedentary.

The babies born to the exercising mothers were both larger and heavier than those born to the sedentary mothers.

The benefits of continuing exercise during pregnancy are many, though many doctors are reluctant to recommend starting an exercise program during pregnancy if the woman was previously inactive.

''Nevertheless,'' writes lead researcher Dr. James Clapp and colleagues, ''an early introduction of a moderate-intensity regimen of weightbearing exercise during pregnancy may have preventative value in individuals or populations at risk of having low birth weight babies.''

Source: American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2000; 183, 1484-1488.

This appeared in ACE FitnessMatters, ACE's official magazine.
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