THE MUMMY BRAIN :


Here are some question that I came across when I read about parenthood.....And some answers that were given :-

Were you afraid your brain would suffer after you had your baby?

Yes, I was concerned I'd lose my mind to a world of diapers and baby bottles. There's an article about 2 researchers who discovered that mother rats were smarter — specifically in learning and memory capacity — than rats that never had babies. And it got me thinking maybe there's more to motherhood than I'd thought.

How does motherhood make women smarter?

Because smart is such a vague term, I broke the brain-boosting benefits of motherhood down into five attributes : perception, efficiency, resiliency, motivation, and emotional intelligence.

The first category, perception, deals primarily with the five senses. One of the most interesting studies showed pregnant women had sharper "visual acuity" than women who weren't expecting. By that I don't mean they suddenly had 20/20 vision but they did notice a lot more. Studies show that pregnant women also have an enhanced sense of smell, which theoretically serves to protect the unborn baby from foods that are potentially harmful.

Other findings show that mothers can experience a boost in motivation, fearlessness, and the ability to multitask and cope with stress. There's also exciting new research suggesting that oxytocin — a hormone important to labor and breastfeeding — improves moms' capacity for learning and memory.

Emotional intelligence is probably the clearest category in which mothers benefit, though. One of the biggest brain boosts for moms is the ability to see the world through someone else's eyes. In so many relationships, if you don't agree with a person you can just walk away. But you can't walk away from your child. At least, not if you want to be a good parent. Instead, you've got to stretch your mind to understand his point of view.

Did you find that people expected you to be "less smart" after you had children?

Yes. For instance I'd be sitting around with a group of women and someone would say something silly and then laugh it off as "mommy brain." Those kinds of experiences, trivial as they may seem, can make you feel as though you're going to accomplish less in life as a mother than you otherwise might as a childless woman.

In what ways did motherhood make you smarter?

I found motherhood tremendously stimulating, like getting a crash course in human nature. I also got much better at time management. As a mother, the notion of having less time to waste informs your whole life. More generally, motherhood helped me focus on the future. I became determined to prioritize things, that will matter more in my baby's life than my own. It's sort of like a midlife crisis. Once you have your baby, you reorganize your priorities. You think about your legacy and take your life more seriously when you realize your baby will examine it later.

What was the most surprising thing you learned ?

In a series of studies done by scientists in Switzerland, who compared the brain scans of parents to those of childless people. They found parents' brains were more active when listening to a baby's cry. On the flip side, brains of people who didn't have children were more active when they heard a baby's laugh. This suggests that a rewiring of the human brain occurs once you have children. Some researchers see it as evidence that motherhood makes women more empathetic. One scientist I interviewed says that moms learn empathy skills with their babies that they can later take out into the world at large.

Another surprising study showed that mothers react even to the annoying sound of a baby's cry with parts of the brain that are activated during pleasurable activities like eating a good meal or winning money. By equating the nurturing of a child with great food or sex, nature is ensuring that you'll bond with your baby, and stay engaged with the mental challenges your child will present you with for years to come. It's a pretty great system!

How does "daddy brain" change after the baby arrives?

Some interesting recent studies show that new fathers mimic in many ways the hormonal changes their wives go through, although on a much lower level. For instance, expectant fathers experience a surge of prolactin, a hormone typically associated with nurturing and breastfeeding, as well as increased levels of estrogen, the "female" hormone. Experts aren't sure why men experience these changes, but they think the higher hormone levels may help dads bond with their offspring. And the changes aren't all chemical.

Are the mind-boosting benefits of motherhood temporary or permanent?
That's hard to measure with humans, but in rat studies the benefits of mothering last until the animals reach an age equivalent to age 80 in humans, which I find very encouraging. And, when it comes to people, we know that seniors who are more connected to the outside world, especially through their children and grandchildren, are often healthier — mentally and physically — than those who are isolated. So motherhood continues to pay off late in life.