Epigenetic Impacts of Exercise During Pregnancy
Sümeyye Zeynep Geçit1, Şevval Avcı1, Oytun Erbaş1
1ERBAS Institute of Experimental Medicine, Illinois, USA & Gebze, Türkiye
Keywords: Epigenetics, exercise, fetal health, healthy pregnancy, maternal health, pregnancy.
Abstract
Pregnancy represents a distinct period in a woman's life characterized by significant physiological, psychological, and hormonal alterations, wherein the adoption of healthy lifestyle habits is critically important for both maternal and fetal well-being. Exercise offers multifaceted benefits during gestation, including the alleviation of pregnancy-related discomforts, facilitation of the birthing process, weight management, enhancement of psychological well-being, and improvement in overall quality of life. Epigenetic mechanisms, which encompass the heritable effects of environmental factors on gene expression, highlight the substantial influence of maternal nutrition and behaviors on fetal development. It is hypothesized that exercise during pregnancy can positively modulate fetal metabolic and neurodevelopmental processes through epigenetic pathways such as deoxyribonucleic acid methylation and histone modification. This review examines the epigenetic and physiological effects of exercise on both the mother and the fetus during pregnancy. Furthermore, the beneficial effects of exercise on cardiovascular health, as well as its regulatory role on neurodevelopmental processes such as synaptic plasticity and neurotransmitter synthesis, have been emphasized.
Cite this article as: Geçit SZ, Avcı Ş, Erbaş O. Epigenetic Impacts of Exercise During Pregnancy. JEB Med Sci 2025;6(1):21-27.
The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.
The authors received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.