Being physically fit and having children has always been so interesting to me. The way that mothers find time and energy to work out baffles me. This article intrigued me so much, because one day I hope to have a child and I would hope that I can stay physically fit. Whether that is taking my baby with me or slipping away for a few minutes, this article made me wonder how I will feel.
The purpose of this study was to see the effects of a moderate intensity bout of exercise in postnatal women with their baby present or without their baby present. The effects they were looking for were changes in their feeling states. They wanted to see if the mother’s anxiety levels were lowered, as well as feeling more relaxed, and calm after the workout. From looking at other research, they hypothesized that women would have an increased positive mood state post exercise in both conditions (Cramp & Bray, 2009). This hypothesis was based on the psychological benefits of exercise and not on prior knowledge of working out with baby or without baby. There was a total of 23 postnatal women that engaged in this research.
Each woman was to take part in both conditions (1) 45-minute moderate intensity exercise session with baby present, and (2) 45-minute moderate intensity exercise session without baby (Cramp & Bray, 2009). The average age of the women was 29, the average age of the baby was 6 months. 61% of the women only had one child and 39% had 2 or more children. Each woman were to measure their pre-exercise and post exercise moods with the State-trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) and the Exercise-induced Feeling Inventory (EFI). They were to do both tests, because they were wanting to see the effects on anxiety alone and positive and negative feeling states.
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During, both conditions they used Rating of Perceived Exertion Scale to make sure that the exercise stayed at a moderate intensity. Condition 1 consisted of a warm-up, light cardio, strength training (using baby as weight), and flexibility. Condition 2 consisted of a warm-up, light cardio, strength training (using resistance bands), and flexibility (Cramp & Bray, 2009). The design that was used was a crossover design. That means that the women participated in one condition and then after a washout period they participated in a different condition. The independent variable is the baby, since there is one condition with the baby and one without the baby, while the dependent variable is the mother.
The average RPE during the cardio section was 5.07 (SD=1.97) with baby present and 6.2 (SD=2.0) without baby (Cramp & Bray, 2009). These were not significant enough to say one was better than the other. There may not have been a significant difference between the conditions feeling states. However, it is worth mentioning that the mothers felt more positive, revitalized, tranquility, and less physical exhaustion and anxiety from pre- and post- exercise. This was the same for both conditions.
The conclusion was that either if the mothers exercised with their babies or without them, they still received an increase in their mood. There is still a lot of research to be done on this topic, however, if a mother can take her baby with her to workout, and she still gets all the psychological benefits, then she should.
