A new study has found that a child’s risk of asthma can be reduced by gnarly half if the mother regularly works out while pregnant. A study published in the journal Med. says that exercising three or more times a week while pregnant reduces a child’s risk of asthma by about 46%.

Asthma is a condition wherein the airways swell and become narrow. It can also produce extra mucus. The condition usually makes breathing difficult. It can also lead to coughing, shortness of breath and a whistling sound (wheezing) when you breathe out.

According to a report in U.S. News, the researchers said that this level of protection is similar to an expecting mother or father quitting smoking while she’s pregnant, thereby, reducing her exposure to cigarette smoke. The results of the new study also highlight previous studies that have shown newborns have stronger lung function if their mothers regularly exercise during pregnancy.

Emma-Reetta Musakka, lead investigator and a doctoral student at the University of Eastern Finland said, “This is the first time we are observing an association between maternal exercise and the development of asthma in the child.”

For the study, the researchers analysed data from nearly 1,000 mother-child pairs in Finland. The mothers were asked whether they exercised during pregnancy and how often they worked out. The most common exercises were walking (34%), jogging (32%), strength training (29%) and group exercise classes or working out at home (22%).

The results revealed that mothers whose kids developed asthma tended to work out fewer than three times a week, results showed. The lower asthma risk associated with regular exercise was held even after researchers accounted for other factors like a mom’s weight, stress or illness; family exercise habits and nutrition; and even dog ownership.

Musakka in a university news release said, “Our findings strongly suggest that maternal exercise during pregnancy has an independent positive effect on the fetus and on the later health of the child.”

Pirkka Kirjavainen, senior researcher at the University of Eastern Finland said that the results also show a new way of protecting children from asthma prior to birth.

Kirjavainen said, “Until today, avoidance of cigarette smoke during pregnancy has been among the only effective ways to reduce a child’s risk of asthma. Thus, it is intriguing that moderate maternal exercise during pregnancy may have an equally strong protective effect on a child’s asthma risk as if one of the parents quits smoking.”

However, the study did not indicate that increasing exercise beyond three times a week would lower asthma risk even further, researchers noted.

Kirjavainen said, “The findings are very promising in terms of asthma prevention. It is highly encouraging to see that by engaging in reasonable amounts of exercise, mothers can significantly influence not only their own health but also the health of their child.”

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