Couch Potato Moms may Influence Inactivity in their Kids

Physical activity plays an important role in our everyday health. Yet for many younger children, knowing the right amount of exercise that's needed to stay fit will most likely be determined by their parents. In other words, if you're a couch potato, chances are, junior will be, too.

"We saw a direct, positive association between physical activity in children and their mothers-the more activity a mother did, the more active her child," said Kathryn Hesketh of University College London.

For the study, researchers drew information from 554 women and their four-year-old children. Of the 544 mothers whose data was analyzed in the Cambridge University-led study, findings showed certain factors that could influence a child's physical activity-including a working mother or attending a day-care facility.

Other factors that may influence the amount of exercise activity a child participates in is whether a child had siblings, the father was present in his or her life and the education level held by the mother.

All of the participants were fitted with Actiheart monitors that recorded a high degree of accuracy for their physical activity for up to a week.

"We used an activity monitor that was attached to participants and worn continuously, even during sleep and water-based activity," said Esther van Sluijs from the University of Cambridge. "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."

However, Leann Birch, a professor at the University of Georgia's department of foods and nutrition who studies children and obesity, focused on the issue of what role father's might play for children and exercise levels.

"This is a big question not addressed here," said Birch, via philly.com.

She also notes that, "some of our own work showed that reported activity by dads was more important than by moms in predicting the activity of daughters, especially in organized sports during later childhood."

For future studies, researchers hope to investigate whether the link between physical activity in mothers and children changes as they grow older.

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More information regarding the study can be found via the journal Pediatrics.