How parenting affects the brain

[ArabellaScott]

An interesting article from New Scientist.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2530223-parenting-may-permanently-improve-brain-health-for-mums-and-dads/

https://archive.ph/DskxT

Raises as many questions as it answers, perhaps.

And this paragraph made me smile:

It is important to note that most of these studies included only heterosexual couples or didn’t ask people about their gender identity or sexuality. So it is unclear whether same-sex couples or non-binary individuals experience the same brain changes.

Let us take a moment to consider the non-binary brain.

Anyway,

'A study in 2021 showed that pregnancy-related reductions in grey matter were still present six years after birth. In another study, neuroscientist Edwina Orchard at the Ann S. Bowers Women’s Brain Health Initiative in California and her colleagues showed that several brain regions remodelled in pregnancy and early parenthood continued to differ between parents and non-parents in their 70s, indicating some changes may last a lifetime.
The parental brain also seems to come with durable improvements in cognition. Compared with women without children, mothers have superior attention and “executive functioning” for at least three years after birth. '

The gist of the article is that 'mummy brain' is an adaptive response, not just a deterioration. For obvious important evolutionary reasons. And that the challenges of parenting may actually have protective outcomes for later life.

Really interesting thanks Arabella. And yes, 🙄 to gender ID, but I would wonder whether the number of hours spent caring for children made a difference.

Really interesting, thanks @ArabellaScott
So much research on the impact of motherhood since I had my kids, is really facinating, I love the idea that they leave cells behind :).
The breastfeeding dyad is also incredible.
I wonder what the relationship is to brain changes in menopause is as well...
In "The Second Sex" there is a lengthy section about how womens bodies change during puberty, the monthly fertility cycle, and pregnancy and motherhood. She explains it as, how as the species that we are, such biological demands are made on the female body throughout our lives, from a procreation perspective. It really changed the way I view our bodies and the unseen and constant role women play in the species itself, how we live that role from puberty onwards.
How lightly men take our contribution. How it shapes us whether we procreate or not.
Anyway, thanks!

Let us take a moment to consider the non-binary brain.

Anyway

😂😂

Isn't that interesting? And unsurprising when you consider the immensely complex interactions between mother and child - from conception through to parenting teenagers and young adults!

As for the "non binary brain" 😂😂

The gist of the article is that 'mummy brain' is an adaptive response, not just a deterioration.

Ty for article but a reduction in grey matter is not always deterioration.

Adolescence and parenthood are exceptions because the grey matter is thinned by synaptic pruning which makes cognition more efficient. So the loss of grey matter in these cases is not deterioration but an improvement.

Do we need two moments, none, many?

Can it be more efficient but have less capacity? I definitely lost, and it remains lost, capacity. I was exceptionally bright but have deteriorated hugely. My working memory is awful. If I was using that inefficient synaptic excess for something, pruning may have made me more likely to focus on the baby but less likely to maintain awareness of a million other things! 😬

I’m great at understanding new things and picking up new skills, but can’t retain it for toffee.

Yes, synaptic pruning trims dead ends and strengthens connections. Your brain has to become more efficient because motherhood adds another dimension of multi-tasking and hyper-awareness.

You may feel you have deteriorated but that is more likely the impact of sleep deprivation or the fact that the higher our stress and cognitive load, the slower we learn. Motherhood is high stress because the lives of your children depend on you.

In sum. Your brain has not deteriorated, it has improved but you dont feel it because the environment it is operating in is high stakes with less sleep/rest.

This is known as matrescence, it’s like a second puberty, as women go through a physiological, endocrinological metamorphosis. It’s not our imagination, and it’s not acknowledged enough. This article explains it a bit, although I found the Lucy Jones book hard going, it felt quite negative in some ways, but it does have some actual ‘science’ in it.

https://myexpertmidwife.com/blogs/new-mum/matrescence-the-hidden-journey-of-becoming-a-mother