December 21, 2016.
Spanish researchers compared the medical images of pregnant women to those of people without children. Conclusion: pregnancy involves a great change in the brain functions of future mothers.
Changes in the brain structure of women during pregnancy
Pregnancy necessarily involves great changes in the human body, but these are not necessarily expected in the brain. A team of researchers from the University of Barcelona has taken an interest in the subject and has just published findings in the journal Nature Neurosciences which reveal that hormonal changes that occur during the nine months of pregnancy are thought to cause changes in the brain structure of women.
To reach this conclusion, these researchers were interested in the cases of 25 women who gave birth to their first child. During their pregnancy and in the months that followed, they underwent various medical imaging examinations which were compared to those of 19 fathers, 17 men without children and 20 women without children.
Being pregnant does not make you “lose your brain”
Conclusion after these comparisons: women who were expecting their first child showed a certain decrease in their gray matter in very specific regions of their brain, especially those related to social aptitude. These modifications would aim to prepare future mothers for the changes implied by the arrival of a child.
” There is no question of sending a message like “being pregnant makes you lose your brain” », Explains Elseline Hoekzema, co-author of this study, for Science magazine. ” A loss of gray matter volume can also represent a beneficial process of maturation or specialization. », She adds again before specifying that research has shown an increase in the activity of other brain regions.
Read also: 10 things to know about our brain
