Pregnancy changes women’s brains ‘for at least two years’

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If you have been feeling like you have not been your usual self after delivery, you are probably right. A new report revealed that pregnancy changes women’s brains for at least two years after delivery.

Pregnancy is an exciting time, but it can also be a trying time for a woman. It isn’t easy to have a human being growing inside you and the experience comes with different hormonal changes.

A recent study published in Nature Neuroscience revealed that during pregnancy women go through significant brain remodeling, which goes on for at least two years after birth.

According to the study, this remodeling helps women as they transition into motherhood.

A research team led by neuroscientist Elseline Hoekzema of Leiden University carried out the study at the Autonomous University of Barcelona where they carried out brain scans on first-time mothers before and after pregnancy and they discovered that there were significant changes in the gray matter in the brain.

The gray matter in the brain changes…

 

This makes so much sense because for the first few years after I had my babies, I felt like I was consistently in a trance. I kept forgetting things and the only part of my brain that was definitely not in a fog was the part that had to do with my baby. Oh, that part was alert.

From the study, it was evident that pregnancy changes women’s brains, especially the gray matter in the brain. “Most women undergo pregnancy at some point in their lives,” Hoekzema says, “But we have no idea what happens in the brain.”

Err, actually we did have an idea. No, it was not scientifically backed, but we knew that our brains were not really functioning the way they were prior to pregnancy. According to Hoekzema, the loss in gray matter is not really a bad thing; it is almost as though the mother’s brain is specializing.

So if you’ve been feeling as though your brain is undergoing significant changes as your due date grows closer, it only means that your brain is getting ready and specializing for motherhood.