|
Having
a Baby Boosts Brain Power
Having
a Child is "A Revolution for the Brain"
By Robin
McKie
The Observer
It is a time
of sleep deprivation, constant tiredness and a regular inability to carry
out even the simplest task. But now scientists have discovered - after
experimenting on the California deer mouse, laboratory rats, and humans
- that pregnancy also confers startling benefits: it actually boosts brainpower.
During pregnancy,
learning and memory skills improve dramatically, say researchers, reversing
the popular myth that it is a time of dumbing down. Key brain areas also
alter in size; changes that can persist for decades. Far from transforming
mothers into weakened emotional wrecks who lose car keys and drop in IQ,
it turns out having children makes them cleverer. It's just hard to spot
thanks to all that lost sleep.
'Many benefits
seem to emerge from motherhood, as the maternal brain rises to the reproductive
challenge,' says Professor Craig Kinsley, of Richmond University, and
Professor Kelly Lambert, of Randolph-Macon College, both in Virginia,
writing in the latest Scientific American. 'In other words, when the going
gets tough, the brain gets going.'
Their paper
reveals that the brain-boosting potential of parenthood includes enhanced
sensory abilities just after childbirth, allowing women to recognise their
infants by faint smells and sounds. It also reports that women who have
children in their forties are four times more likely to survive to 100
than women who gave birth earlier. Pregnancy enhances women's brains just
when the memory decline of middle age normally kicks in, say researchers,
leading to better mental health and longevity.
Underlying
these changes are two key processes. The first involves the hormonal fluctuations
of pregnancy, birth and lactation, which remodel the brain, increasing
the size of neurons in some regions. Women become vigilant and alert -
and the benefits appear to be long-lasting, say Kinsley and Lambert.
Secondly,
rearing a child is so challenging it stimulates brain activity. Having
a baby is 'a revolution for the brain', says Dr Michael Merzenich of the
University of California in San Francisco. The brain creates cells that
thrive the more they are used and the emotional, novel experiences of
childraising provide the most stimulating use of all.
Further support
for this idea is provided by Katherine Ellison in her book, The Mommy
Brain, published last year in the United States and scheduled for release
in the UK in April. As Ellison points out: 'There's no other time in a
woman's life when she needs to be quite as smart as when she is looking
after young children.'
In other
words, getting a cerebral lift in pregnancy makes evolutionary sense and
evidence can be seen throughout the animal kingdom, Lambert told The Observer.
'We just didn't look for the evidence before,' she said.
In one experiment,
scientists compared the behaviour of virgin female rats with those with
litters. The rats were placed in enclosures containing a cricket - a tasty
rat snack - hidden under wood chips. 'The virgins took nearly 270 seconds
to find the cricket and eat it, compared with slightly more than 50 seconds
for mother rats,' Lambert said.
Kinsley and
Lambert say the phenomenon could have been a key driver in the evolution
of all mammals. Instead of laying eggs and walking off like reptiles,
mammals defend their young. Creatures that were most vigilant at this
time would have fared better and lived longer.
The idea
may seem startling because a dimming of brain power is still viewed as
a side effect of motherhood. 'It does seem counter-intuitive,' added Lambert.
'We just haven't noticed it because these boosts are masked by sleep deprivation.
It wasn't until I had a baby that I realised what is involved in having
a child and how organised a female has to be. It makes sense for her body
to boost her mental capacities.'
But if mothers
get a boost from parenthood, is the same true for fathers? Lambert says
yes, but to a more limited extent. 'A man won't get a hormone boost, but
if he is an involved father he will gain through sharing the challenging
experience of childraising.'
This idea
is backed by Lambert's studies of the California deer mouse, the male
of which shares equally in childrearing tasks. Experienced fathers were
found to do better than inexperienced males in experiments that tested
their ability to navigate mazes and find food.
I'm more
alert mentally now'
Aine Ropke
was born on 26 September to Polly Thompson and Stuart Ropke. 'In the months
leading up to Aine's birth, I had been doing some serious multi-tasking,'
said Polly. I was juggling the major renovation of our house while getting
everything ready for the baby's arrival - which is a big deal when it's
your first. At the same time I started a new, stressful and demanding
job.
When I gave
birth, however, I thought my brain had turned to mush. I was enormously
happy, but at the same time I was exhausted and distracted. As the tiredness
and stress dropped away, the mists in my head began to clear. Suddenly
everything became sharper again and instead of being unable to remember
anything, I was plotting, planning and organising just as efficiently
as I did before. I think I'm even more mentally alert now than before
Aine arrived, because I have to be.'
SOURCE:
The
Observer |
