Brain under the microscope: This is how pregnancy changes mothers!

Brain under the microscope: This is how pregnancy changes mothers!

The journey to motherhood is not only a physical transformation, but also a profound neurological one. Pregnancy has been shown to affect the brains of expectant mothers, several studies show. Loud spectrum Imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have shown that pregnant women experience a significant decrease in gray matter in relevant brain regions, which remains visible up to two years after delivery. These changes can be observed particularly in areas that are responsible for social cognition and empathy, which concerns the ability to mentally empathize with other people, i.e. the “theory of mind”. Neuroscientist Magdalena Martínez-García explains that these restructurings can continue to be evident several years after birth, confirming the long-term effects of motherhood on the brain.

Long-term neural adaptations

Despite concerns about the negative consequences of gray matter reduction, research makes it clear that these changes are the result of a conscious adaptation that prepares mothers for their new tasks. How National Geographic reported, specific hormones such as estrogen and progesterone are catalytically involved in the increase in parental behavior. These hormones influence the so-called “medial preoptic area” in the hypothalamus, which is crucial for regulating maternal behavior. Damage to this area means that even hormonally stimulated animals cannot display parental behavior.

These profound changes extend even further. Researchers have found that signal processing in the brain is optimized during pregnancy, improving communication between cells. Such changes are not dependent on the birth itself, but rather occur in late pregnancy, meaning that women who have had cesarean births can also benefit from these neurological adaptations. These findings could mean that mothers' neurological remodeling is not just a response to the baby itself, but also to make them more sensitive to the unique demands of parenthood.