Active mothers raise active children

Tuesday March 25th, 2014

Active mothers encourage children to be active - but many mothers are not active enough, researchers reported yesterday.

The Cambridge University researchers studied activity levels among four-year-olds, who would be about to start school, fitting monitors to both children and their parents.

They found a "close" relationship between a woman's activity levels and those of her child.

And just 53% of the women were achieving minimum levels of physical activity of at least 30 minutes once a week, they reported.

The findings, backed by the UK Medical Research Council, were published in the journal Pediatrics and involved a study of some 554 women in Southampton.

Researcher Dr Esther van Sluijs said: "This approach allowed us to capture accurately both mothers’ and children’s physical activity levels for the whole of the measurement period, matching hour for hour maternal-child activity levels.

"This comparison provided us with detailed information about how the association between mothers and children’s activity changed throughout the day, and how factors such as childcare attendance and maternal education influenced this relationship.”

Fellow researcher Kathryn Hesketh, of University College, London, said: “There are many competing priorities for new parents and making time to be active may not always be top of the list.

"However, small increases in maternal activity levels may lead to benefits for mothers and children. And if activity in mothers and children can be encouraged or incorporated into daily activities, so that more time is spent moving, activity levels are likely to increase in both."

Pediatrics 24 March 2014

Tags: Child Health | Fitness | UK News | Women's Health & Gynaecology

Printer friendly page