Maternal activity level may depend on number and age of children

Overview: Mothers of school-age children engage in slightly more moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day than mothers of younger children. She was less than 50% of mothers engaging in the recommended 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per week.

sauce: Cambridge University

Researchers from Cambridge and Southampton found that fewer than half of mothers met recommended levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, and mothers with younger children exercised the least.

Physical activity, especially moderate-to-vigorous exercise, has many health benefits, reducing the risk of diseases ranging from cancer to type 2 diabetes to cardiovascular disease, and promoting a healthy weight and better mental health. helps maintain

Evidence suggests that physical activity can help parents cope with the day-to-day challenges of parenthood and strengthen relationships with their children when they are active together. tend to be inactive.

Researchers from the Universities of Cambridge and Southampton analyzed data from 848 women who participated in the UK Southampton Women’s Study to examine how family composition affects the amount of physical activity in mothers. Females aged 20-34 years were recruited between 1998 and 2002 and followed for several years thereafter. They were given an accelerometer to assess their activity level.

The result is today pro swan.

Women with school-aged children averaged about 26 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day (note: these are averages), whereas mothers with only young children (ages 4 and under) performed 1 Managed about 18 minutes a day. .

Having more than one child meant that mothers could only do about 21 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day.

Fewer than 50% of mothers achieved the recommended level of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (150 minutes per week) regardless of their child’s age.

Dr Kathryn Hesketh of the University of Cambridge Medical Research Council (MRC) Epidemiology Unit said: time spent raising children.

“Therefore, exercise is often one of the first things to fall on the way, which is why most of the physical activity a mother can manage seems to be low intensity.

“But when children are in school, mothers are able to engage in more physical activity. There are several possible reasons why this is the case. It gives me more opportunities: I can get back to active commuting, or I can be more comfortable using my time alone.”

Dr. Rachel Simpson, MRC Epidemiology Unit student, added: However, the demands of being a mother can make finding time difficult.

“We need to look at ways to not only encourage mothers, but make it as easy as possible for busy mothers, especially mothers with young children, to increase the amount of higher-intensity physical activity.”

Professor Keith Godfrey, MRC Center for Life Course Epidemiology and NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre, said: The significance of this reduction.

“Local government planners and leisure facilities providers need to do more to support mothers to engage in physical activity.”

About this activity and neuroscience research news

author: press office
sauce: Cambridge University
contact: Press Office – University of Cambridge
image: image is public domain

See also

Original research: open access.
“Associations between number and age of children and maternal physical activity: a cross-sectional analysis from the Southampton Women’s Study” Keith Godfrey et al. pro swan

Overview

Associations between number and age of children and maternal physical activity: a cross-sectional analysis from the Southampton Women’s Study

Background

Physical activity (PA) has many health benefits, but PA often declines in motherhood. Considering that age and number of children may be related to maternal PA, and that PA patterns may change as children move into formal schooling, age and number of children and We aimed to investigate the association with device-measured maternal PA.

method

A cross-sectional analysis was performed using data from 848 mothers from the Southampton Women’s Survey at two different time points. A two-level random intercept linear model was used to determine the relationship between age (≤4 years (ears) (“young”), school age, both age groups) and number (1, 2, ≥3) of children, and investigated their interactions. , and accelerometer-assessed maternal moderate or active PA (log-transformed MVPA) and min of mild, moderate or active PA (LMVPA).

result

Women with school-age children engage in more MVPAs than children under 4 (e.g. MVPA fractional difference %) [95% confidence interval]: 46.9% [22.0;77.0] school age only vs mothers under 4). Mothers with multiple children had less of her MVPA than mothers with one child (e.g., 12.5%) [-1.1;24.3] Less MVPA if you have two children). For mothers with multiple children, mothers with school-age children had lower her LMVPA than children under 4 years old (e.g., among mothers with two children, only school-age children mother with her 34.0 [3.9;64.1] minutes/days minus LMVPA). If either mother was under the age of 4, the mother with more children had a higher LMVPA for her (e.g., among mothers under the age of 4, the mother with two children had a higher LMVPA than she had 42.6). [16.4;68.8] min/day, more LMVPA than with one child).

Conclusion

Mothers with multiple children and mothers with only children under the age of 4 had lower MVPAs. Considering that many of these women are doing her LMVPA more than mothers with fewer children or older children, more intensity is needed to maximize health benefits. interventions and policies are needed to increase the chances of high PA.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04715945.