A latest research shows mothers' physical activity levels are tied to their children's activity levels.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge analysed the data of 554 women and their 4-year-old children.

Most of the participants were working mothers and comparatively higher number of children attended day-care facilities. This was taken as one of the factors that influenced activity levels of both mothers and children.

The researchers also considered other possible factors on maternal activity such as education, siblings of the children and whether his or her father was present at home.

The authors then fit Actiheart monitors (combined accelerometer and heart rate monitor) on both mothers and children to record with a high degree of accuracy their physical activity levels for up to a week.

The researchers found that children were not "just naturally active" and that parents play an important role in the development of healthy activity habits early on in life.

"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," Kathryn Hesketh of University College London (formerly of Cambridge University), said in a press release.

"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."

The study was published in the journal 'Pediatrics.'