Exercise During Pregnancy: Can It Instill a Lifelong Love of Exercise in Baby?

There is extensive research on how exercising during pregnancy benefits mom, but what about how it affects baby, even after the womb? A new animal study published in FASEB Journal suggests that moms who run during pregnancy produce  kids who are more apt to be like them and become runners themselves, according to an article in the New York Times. 

The study showed that mice whose mothers ran were more likely to run themselves, compared to sedentary moms whose offspring were less active. These findings might not seem like a far leap from what most of us observe in our everyday lives--if parents are active, so are their kids, and vice versa. This study, however, hints that there might be a biological (including genetic) cause along with the social ones that influence whether a child is more likely to be active or sedentary. 

Scientists are also interested in research about the process known as developmental programming, which involves how a baby’s body and even DNA may be influenced by the environment she experiences in the womb and immediately after birth.  An example of this would be how babies born to diabetic mothers are more likely to be diabetic.