Researchers of a Michigan State University study say that doing exercise during pregnancy can lower the risk of developing high blood pressure or hypertension of offspring in adulthood.
This builds on the already accepted notion by doctors that babies with low birth weight have greater chances of developing high blood pressure later in their life span. The researchers of this study revealed high blood pressure to be a significant contributor to failing cardiac health. By doing exercise during pregnancy, the risk of hypertension can be reduced even if the birth weight of the baby is lower than normal.
Lead author of the study, James Pivarnik, revealed that to find out the relation between lower birth weight babies and high blood pressure, the research team examined babies of normal birth weight including babies whose weight fell at the lower end of the scale. Amongst the study findings, better cardiac health was identified in offspring whose mothers were physically active during pregnancy.
The study indicates that exercise can change the cardiovascular risk that occurs in utero to a significant extent. This phenomenon is related to fetal origin hypothesis that hypothesize that if anything strenuous happens to a mother and her unborn baby, permanent changes may result that can affect the baby’s health.
From the evidence available, the researchers discovered that kids whose mothers exercised during development period, showed significantly reduced level of systolic blood pressure at 8-10 years of age.
The study is published in the Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness.
