[Source: Science Daily]

Infants whose mothers participated in a mindfulness-based program during pregnancy had healthier stress responses at 6 months old, a new UC San Francisco study found.

This is the first known study to show that a prenatal social intervention may improve health outcomes in offspring, as measured by autonomic nervous system responses, said Amanda Noroña-Zhou, PhD, first author of the study in Psychosomatic Medicine.

“It is really well established that maternal stress in pregnancy increases the risk for health problems in the children,” said Noroña-Zhou, PhD, a clinical psychologist affiliated with UCSF’s Center for Health and Community. “But we haven’t had a good understanding of how this process unfolds and of the biological mechanisms underlying it, or whether we can buffer the effects of stress on negative health outcomes.”

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