Brain under the magnifying glass: This is how pregnancy changes mothers!

Brain under the magnifying glass: This is how pregnancy changes mothers!

Barcelona, Spanien - The way to motherhood is not only a physical, but also a profound neurological transformation. Pregnancy has been shown to have an impact on the brain of the expectant mothers, as several studies show. According to Spectrum , imaging methods such as magnetic resonance tomography (MRI) show that pregnant women experience significant decrease in the gray substance in relevant brain regions, up to two years after Delivery remains visible. These changes can be observed in particular in areas that are responsible for social cognition and empathy, which concerns the ability to empathize with other people, ie the "Theory of Mind". Neuroscientist Magdalena Martínez-García explains that these restructuring can continue to be recognizable several years after the birth, which confirms the long-term effects of motherhood on the brain.

long -term neuronal adjustments

Despite the concerns about the negative consequences of gray substance reduction, research makes it clear that these changes are the result of conscious adaptation that the mothers prepares for their new tasks. As National Geographic , specific hormones such as estrogen and progesterone are catalytically involved in the increase in parental behavior. These hormones influence the so -called "media preoptic area" in hypothalamus, which is crucial for the regulation of maternal behavior. Damage in this area means that even hormonally stimulated animals cannot show parental behavior.

These profound changes extend even further. Researchers have found that signal processing in the brain is optimized during pregnancy, which improves communication between the cells. Such changes are not dependent on birth itself, but are already in the late pregnancy, which means that women who had caesarean cuts can also benefit from these neurological adjustments. These findings could mean that the neurological redesign of the mothers is not only a reaction to the baby itself, but also to make them more sensitive to the special requirements of being parent.