Mother's health affects the child's well-being and proper management can prevent serious lifestyle-related diseases, such as heart disease and obesity.
A study conducted by Institute of Physiology revealed that the body has an internal clock that regulates sleepiness over a 24 hour period, called circadian rhythm. The circadian system is important so that processes in the body are synchronized with day and night, i.e. when it is light or dark outside. Disturbances in these mechanisms can lead to poor health, such as heart disease.
Providing better maternal care significantly reduces abnormalities in the circadian system and results in a lower likelihood of development of heart disease.
Corresponding author Alena Sumova said, "These results point to a real possibility to reduce abnormalities in the offspring's body clock and therefore limit the progression of disease in order to improve health. Our future research will be directed at understanding in more detail how an aberrant circadian system contributes to the progression of the disease. We believe that this research is worth future explorations as it may provide novel therapies for serious lifestyle-related diseases in humans."
The findings were published in the Journal of Physiology.
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