Your Brain Changes With Motherhood

Motherhood is a life-changing event. It leads to endless physical and emotional changes that you can observe to a greater or lesser extent from the start of a pregnancy. However, did you know that your brain also changes with motherhood?

In a study published in Nature Neuroscience , researchers noted that the brain begins to restructure during pregnancy. Not only that, but they found that it continues to change for at least two years after giving birth. Read on to learn more about it.

Your brain changes with motherhood

The plasticity of a mother’s brain has to do with evolutionary adaptation. A research team from the Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona performed MRI scans of the brains of pregnant women.

They did this during and after pregnancy and they found a reduction in gray matter volume. Especially in the regions of the brain associated with social relationships.

They noticed this decrease in all the pregnant women they studied. The change occurred symmetrically in gray matter volume in the prefrontal and temporal cortex sections. The same was true for the cortical midline. Neurologists associate these areas with social processes.

After the delivery, the researchers made new scans while the mothers looked at pictures of their children. They noticed the same effect. When they examined future parents, no changes in the brain were seen. They therefore concluded that said brain adaptations only occur in women.

The brain changes with motherhood

The study found no difference between women who conceived naturally or through fertility treatments. Gray matter reductions were similar in both cases. Now let’s see how this decrease affects or modifies a new mother’s actions:

• They found no changes in memory or other intellectual functions.
• The loss of gray matter has nothing to do with cognitive deficits.
• The plasticity of the mother’s brain has an evolutionary purpose. This is so that a new mother can respond to her baby’s needs more efficiently.

• Thanks to this reduction in gray matter, the mother is more sensitive to her child’s emotional state and can easily detect possible threats.

“We think the reduction is due to a process similar to synapse pruning. It takes place during adolescence, where weak synapses are removed to promote more mature and efficient mental processing,” concluded Susanna Carmona, one of the researchers.

Motherhood and Memory

A number of studies point to a possible decline in memory when a woman becomes a mother. The above study found no evidence of impaired memory in new mothers. However, research in 2010 suggested that hormonal changes may have some influence on cognition.

One of the conclusions the specialists drew was that adapting a new mother’s brain could lead to a decrease in her memory performance.

A study conducted in Australia also compared the memory response of pregnant and non-pregnant women. In the results, they saw a significant deterioration in the naturalistic degree of memory.

Based on these two studies, we can say that a woman’s brain changes when she becomes a mother. This plasticity allows them to adapt to new circumstances and develop a greater empathic response. This is because they need it to take good care of their baby, even though it may affect their memory.

Conclusions

A woman’s brain changes when she becomes a mother, no doubt about it. However, there is no conclusive data to determine exactly how these brain changes affect their day-to-day actions. In summary, scientists believe that:

• this change would increase their capacity for empathy to understand their child.
• their ability to recognize potential threats and hazards increases.
• however, memory may decrease.
• light up the zones related to love in their brains to create a symbiotic relationship that allows for the proper development and protection of a child during its first years of life.

Motherhood changes a woman in so many ways. Not only does it leave a mark on their bodies, but it also seems to change their brains. It happens so that they can better respond to the needs of their children.

The data are not 100% conclusive and require further investigation. However, it certainly seems that a woman’s brain changes with motherhood.