Prevention Through Intervention. The Growing Science of Maternal Exercise and How It Improves the Health of Mother and Baby
Presentation Type
Keynote Speaker
Abstract
Exercise during pregnancy has been debated by practitioners since the late 19th century. Early on, some believed that pregnant women should abstain from physical activity more vigorous than that of traditional housework. Expecting women were told to refrain from bad habits, such as smoking and drinking alcohol, and continue engaging in good habits such as eating healthy and getting proper sleep. Exercise, now proven as an objectively healthy habit, was initially deemed harmful to fetal development, and therefore considered too grand a risk for pregnant women to undertake. It was postulated that the maternal and fetal competition for oxygen and substrates during maternal exercise would lead to tragic events such as fetal hypoxia, attenuated fetal growth, potential miscarriage, and preterm delivery. While the next generation of investigators did not hesitate to refute this hypothesis with concrete evidence of exercise as safe during pregnancy, more advanced scientific work from current researchers has since revealed a potential positive effect of exercise during pregnancy, moreover disproving the once thought “harmful” effects.
In the last 10 years, Dr. Linda May’s research lab has played a major role in revealing the beneficial effect of exercise during pregnancy. Resultant to Dr. May’s pioneering works in the cardiometabolic health of exercising mothers and their offspring, her work has expanded to answer a deeper and larger breadth of questions, as her team sets out to investigate all the potential benefits provided from the mothers to their babies before they are even born. Her team has demonstrated a resoundingly positive influence of maternal exercise on maternal and offspring health; from the effects maternal exercise has on fetal cardiac function, to blood lipid and glucose levels, and even further into offspring cellular metabolic processes, the list of translational benefits from maternal exercise seems never-ending. Even our understanding of the exact power of exercise as an intervention has evolved; from simply comparing aerobic exercise with control, to incorporating resistance and circuit (combination of aerobic and resistance) exercise groups, while also breaking down the potential benefits to different “doses” of exercise using the FITT-V (Frequency, Intensity, Time, Type and Volume) principle.
This presentation by Drs. Cody Strom, Bree Wisseman, and Alex Claiborne will review their 7-year span of involvement with Dr. Linda May’s research, while the authors aim to highlight the health benefits for both the mother and baby, and the overall importance of being physically active even if just at-home. By weaving in specific examples of their contributions to Dr. May’s research repertoire, they will illustrate how our practical understanding of maternal exercise has expanded.
Prevention Through Intervention. The Growing Science of Maternal Exercise and How It Improves the Health of Mother and Baby
Exercise during pregnancy has been debated by practitioners since the late 19th century. Early on, some believed that pregnant women should abstain from physical activity more vigorous than that of traditional housework. Expecting women were told to refrain from bad habits, such as smoking and drinking alcohol, and continue engaging in good habits such as eating healthy and getting proper sleep. Exercise, now proven as an objectively healthy habit, was initially deemed harmful to fetal development, and therefore considered too grand a risk for pregnant women to undertake. It was postulated that the maternal and fetal competition for oxygen and substrates during maternal exercise would lead to tragic events such as fetal hypoxia, attenuated fetal growth, potential miscarriage, and preterm delivery. While the next generation of investigators did not hesitate to refute this hypothesis with concrete evidence of exercise as safe during pregnancy, more advanced scientific work from current researchers has since revealed a potential positive effect of exercise during pregnancy, moreover disproving the once thought “harmful” effects.
In the last 10 years, Dr. Linda May’s research lab has played a major role in revealing the beneficial effect of exercise during pregnancy. Resultant to Dr. May’s pioneering works in the cardiometabolic health of exercising mothers and their offspring, her work has expanded to answer a deeper and larger breadth of questions, as her team sets out to investigate all the potential benefits provided from the mothers to their babies before they are even born. Her team has demonstrated a resoundingly positive influence of maternal exercise on maternal and offspring health; from the effects maternal exercise has on fetal cardiac function, to blood lipid and glucose levels, and even further into offspring cellular metabolic processes, the list of translational benefits from maternal exercise seems never-ending. Even our understanding of the exact power of exercise as an intervention has evolved; from simply comparing aerobic exercise with control, to incorporating resistance and circuit (combination of aerobic and resistance) exercise groups, while also breaking down the potential benefits to different “doses” of exercise using the FITT-V (Frequency, Intensity, Time, Type and Volume) principle.
This presentation by Drs. Cody Strom, Bree Wisseman, and Alex Claiborne will review their 7-year span of involvement with Dr. Linda May’s research, while the authors aim to highlight the health benefits for both the mother and baby, and the overall importance of being physically active even if just at-home. By weaving in specific examples of their contributions to Dr. May’s research repertoire, they will illustrate how our practical understanding of maternal exercise has expanded.