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Updated: Nov 20, 2025
Author Spotlight: Enhancing the Offspring Health in Rats with Maternal Exercise During Pregnancy
Published on: April 5, 2024
Effects of non-supervised aerobic exercise on sleep quality and maternal-fetal attachment in pregnant women: A
Wen-Chun Shen1, Chung-Hey Chen2
1Institute of Allied Health Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, and Case Manager, Department of Neurology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan.
Objectives:
This study was designed to evaluate the effect in pregnant women of a non-supervised aerobic exercise intervention on sleep quality and maternal-fetal attachment.
Design:
Pretest-posttest randomized controlled trial.
Setting:
Prenatal clinic of a medical center in southern Taiwan.
Participants:
One hundred and forty eligible, pregnant women were assigned systematically, at a random starting point, to either the experimental group (n = 70) or the control group (n = 70).
Intervention:
Participants in the experimental group received a 20-minute, low-impact aerobic exercise video on DVD and were instructed to exercise at home at least three times per week for a period of three months. Participants in the control group received routine prenatal care only.
Main Outcome Measures:
The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and Modified Maternal-Fetal Attachment Scale were used to assess outcome measures before the intervention and at four and 12-weeks post-intervention.
Results:
The paired-sample t-tests revealed a significant improvement in sleep quality in the experimental group at 4-weeks posttest, which persisted through 12-weeks posttest. In addition, the experimental group reported a significantly higher mean score for maternal-fetal attachment at 4-weeks posttest than the control group.
Conclusion:
The results of this study indicate that performing aerobic exercise ameliorates the decline in sleep quality and improves maternal-fetal attachment in women who are pregnant. These findings may be used to encourage pregnant women to regularly perform low-impact aerobic exercise.
