Newborn babies have their brains more developed when their mother performs modest workout during pregnancy, according to Elise Labonte-LeMoyne, a PhD candidate at the University of Montreal.

Eighteen pregnant women took part in the study. Even though 18 is not a big number, there are other studies that support this specific finding. Ms Labonte-LeMoyne explained that the results showed that physically active mothers have babies with cerebral activation on a more mature level. It suggests that the brains of the babies get developed faster, she said.

Ms LeMoyne gave examples of similar studies among animals where it had been found that animals which exercised during their pregnancy had better foetal brain development. She explained that the 18 women who had taken part in the study were divided in two groups where one group had 8 women who went through a sedentary lifestyle, while the other group had 10 women who performed mild exercises. Every woman who took part in the research was in the second trimester of her pregnancy when the results were documented.

The modest exercise included long workouts for at least 20 minutes thrice in a week. The exercises also included swimming, jogging and cycling which caused brief sessions of shortness of breath. The women managed to do workouts for 117 minutes in a week, which means that they worked out for 39 minutes on an average every day.

Ms LeMoyne further said that the newborn babies were put to sleep by their mother on the lap. The head of the baby was fitted with netting which looked pretty much like a bathing cap. The netting had 124 electrodes cushioned with a sponge-like material that was used to prevent irritation. Those electrodes recorded the electrical impulses of the brain as it responded to stimuli.

Ms LeMoyne played beep sounds to the babies. She also played sounds with higher pitch. Then the ability of the brain to differentiate the individual sounds was determined, Ms LeMoyne told the Canadian Press. The research, on the contrary, is considered to be preliminary when it was presented at meetings.