Oh boy! Im three in a half months pregnant with my fourth blessing. A study out of Yale found that motherhood sets off structural changes in the brain, increasing its processing capabilities. And the more doting moms are on their babies, the smarter the mothers become! YAY! Wait, isn’t the whole “pregnancy brain” thing supposed to be about moms losing some of their wits? Not quite. Apparently, the performance gap widens even further during pregnancy, when activity increases in the prefrontal cortex, the part of our brains in charge of multi-tasking. We already know that women are better at multitasking then men. Why? Well, one theory holds that women become particularly vigilant toward men during pregnancy, to quickly spot-and avoid-threats. Researchers at McMaster University recently found that pregnant women are significantly better at recognizing faces-men’s faces in particular. While oxytocin amps up the love within a family, it can also increase defensive aggression toward people outside of the family group, which explains the phenomenon of Mama Bear. In fact, levels of oxytocin in pregnant women can even predict mother-child bonding. Oxytocin makes women calmer, more trusting, and more open to love. Oxytocin, or the “hormone of love and bonding,” is something we release naturally during pregnancy, childbirth, and breastfeeding. discovered that brains of healthy pregnant women decreased in size by up to six percent! Fortunately, women’s brains return to their pre-pregnancy size six months after delivery. It appears that there may be a physical component to “pregnancy brain.” Researchers at Hammersmith Hospital in the U.K. Here, some of the most surprising: Five Crazy Ways Pregnancy Changes Your Brain 1. They found that general cognitive functioning, memory and executive functioning were significantly reduced in pregnant women, particularly during the third trimester of pregnancy.Īnd it makes sense, given the significant changes our brains undergo during pregnancy. Researchers studied more than 700 pregnant women and more than 500 non-pregnant women. One Australian study suggests yes, pregnancy brain is a real thing. Most moms have experienced what is known as “pregnancy brain” or “momnesia.” And sure, sleep deprivation has a lot to do with why many of us feel a bit… dimmer after giving birth.īut is there more going on besides the missing Zzzs? More likely it’s just a case of something most new mamas know all too well… momnesia aka pregnancy brain. Just the other day, I warned my husband that I may be experiencing early onset dementia. And in my experience, that’s a pretty accurate way to describe pregnancy brain! Anne Lamott wrote that each baby comes out clutching a third of its mother’s brain.
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