

Exercise during pregnancy gives newborn brain development a head start - mkempe
http://www.nouvelles.umontreal.ca/udem-news/news/20131111-exercise-during-pregnancy-gives-newborn-brain-development-a-head-start.html

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tokenadult
What's with the spate of press releases from hospitals in Canada recently here
on Hacker News? One statement in the press release seems frankly incredible to
this father of four children in the United States: "Not so long ago,
obstetricians would tell women to take it easy and rest during their
pregnancy. Recently, the tides have turned and it is now commonly accepted
that inactivity is actually a health concern." What is the definition of "not
so long ago" here? My wife exercised (rather more vigorously than what's
described in the press release) during all four pregnancies with our children,
the first of which was more than twenty years ago. (Our oldest son is now a
hacker in New York City.) It would never have occurred to us to do otherwise,
and we lived in Seattle, Washington; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Taipei,
Taiwan as our children were expected and born, and in all those places it
seemed to be recommended for expectant mothers to exercise during pregnancy.

What has changed over twenty years in the United States are weight gain
recommendations for pregnant women. As our first son was in utero, the
recommended weight gain figures for pregnant women were at the peak that they
ever reached. My wife, while exercising moderately but more vigorously than
described in the submission here, also dutifully ate far more than she usually
eats, and managed to gain up to the full recommended weight gain of that era.
Later, the weight gain recommendations were actually revised downwards again.
(Whew!) My petite and formerly rather slim wife ends up after four pregnancies
with a baseline weight, more than a decade after her last child was born,
heavier than she ever was before having children, but still at the low part of
the "normal" body mass range for women in the United States, and she still
exercises, more vigorously than ever. (She bicycle-commutes year-round here in
Minnesota, and we do a lot of our discussion of family business on walks to do
grocery shopping or visits to the library that involve us carrying objects
home for a mile along our city trail system.)

On the whole, I'm rather astonished that as of the date of this press release
submission (LUNDI, 11 NOVEMBRE 2013) there could be any controversy in any
part of Canada that the kind of exercise described in the article could be
anything but beneficial for expectant mothers and their children. How fast
does news about better prenatal care spread around the world? I know that the
place where we live, Minnesota, is ahead of the world curve in obstetric
practice (indeed, my late father was present for my birth and the birth of two
of my three siblings, very unusually for that era, beginning in the 1950s),
but I didn't think after living in two countries and having children in both
that ANYWHERE doubted the benefit of exercise by pregnant women.

AFTER EDIT: I'll add here some links to official statements about exercise for
pregnant women.

"Physical Activity: Healthy Pregnant or Postpartum Women" by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention:

[http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/everyone/guidelines/preg...](http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/everyone/guidelines/pregnancy.html)

"Exercise During Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period" by the American Congress
of Obstetricians and Gynecologists:

[http://www.acog.org/Resources_And_Publications/Committee_Opi...](http://www.acog.org/Resources_And_Publications/Committee_Opinions/Committee_on_Obstetric_Practice/Exercise_During_Pregnancy_and_the_Postpartum_Period)

"Exercise in pregnancy" by National Health Service (Britain):

[http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-
baby/pages/pregna...](http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-
baby/pages/pregnancy-exercise.aspx)

~~~
gregpilling
My wife taught 5 fitness classes a week during our 4 children's pregnancy, and
they are all geniuses (no bias here).

More seriously, in Arizona I have had friends that were pregnant told to "take
it easy" and "don't lift more than 10 pounds" but for the most part the advice
is that exercise is good. Usually instructions to avoid exercise are only
given when the doctors fear losing the baby due to some other complications.

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kohanz
As someone who just became a father (and who's wife exercised during
pregnancy), remember that (a) exercise is more difficult when pregnant and (b)
anything more than light/moderate exercise is not recommended.

My wife was told not to exceed 60% of her max heart rate during exercise. A
slightly brisk walk on the treadmill was enough to get her there during the
latter portions if the pregnancy. anything that we non-pregnant folk might
consider "real exercise" would likely be too strenuous. Now, I'm skeptical as
to how accurate those recommendations are, but not enough to disobey them.

~~~
antr
This reminds me of
[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/7871698/Paula-...](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/7871698/Paula-
Radcliffe-finishes-10km-charity-run-while-seven-months-pregnant.html)

Of course, Paula's pace wasn't race pace, but still... 10km in 45min. It all
depends on the women's past exercising habits. You can't ask someone who
rarely/never exercises to exercise when pregnant – hence 60% HR of a fit
person is not the same as 60% of a non-physically active person.

~~~
kohanz
I don't care how fit you are, almost no one is running a 10k in 45 minutes at
60% of max HR.

I'm sure in many cases more strenuous exercise is not detrimental, but of
course the public health recommendations are going to play it safe.

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phillc73
The best thing I've read all day. Three days ago my wife have birth to our
son, 3.5 weeks early. She's blaming the fact that we were in the middle of a
house move for bringing the birth on early. While she wasn't lifting heavy
things, the new flat is on the second floor, with no lift, so twenty steps
needed to be negotiated regularly. I can now tell her we were simply working
on enhanced brain development for our son.

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dschiptsov
Does this imply that poor village women who work pregnant are producing
geniuses?

~~~
ajcarpy2005
Maybe but also if they are poor, any exercise/work along with possible
malnourishment could just be more of an exasperation to the underlying
nutritional problem.

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nkuttler
> Women in the exercise group had to perform at least 20 minutes of
> cardiovascular exercise three times per week at a moderate intensity, which
> should lead to at least a slight shortness of breath.

I find it fascinating that this even qualifies as exercise. An untrained
person with a sedentary job will probably just have to climb a few stairs or
walk quickly for a few minutes to get this intensity.

Who would have thought that healthy activities are.. healthy.

~~~
judk
You missed the "20 minutes" part.

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mkempe
The article mentions a planned follow-up study of the same babies at age 1,
but I can't find any published results.

~~~
atmosx
I'm sure moderate exercise, non polluted oxygen and so forth are helpful at
any stage. As all the things we already now (rest, exercise, healthy food,
etc.). But I have trouble accepting theories which are based on things that
can not be quantified. We'll have to wait 60 years to asses and I'm pretty
sure the results will depend mostly on standard-well known facts like family
status, family income, schools etc. than the mother doing 'exercise' when the
subject was a fetus.

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LunaSea
"Breathing during pregnancy gives newborn brain development a head start"

