Mommy Brain... it's something nearly every new mom experiences. Feeling overwhelmed and exhausted, you just can't think straight. I remember putting ice cream in the refrigerator, doing a load of laundry with no detergent, wearing two different shoes to work. Didn't really matter because I was so in love with my daughters. I had the perfect excuse, Mommy Brain.
Now, a new study says my brain wasn't actually turning to mush after I gave birth. In fact, it was growing. The study published in Behavioral Neuroscience says women's brains may get bigger during motherhood. Researchers took periodic brain scans of 19 new moms and found growth in the midbrain and prefrontal cortex. The midbrain is linked to pleasure response and the prefrontal cortex is linked to reasoning, planning and judgment.
While researchers measured brain size and not cognitive response, the two typically go together. "There's certainly reason to think it might indicate that they got smarter," lead author Pilyoung Kim (National Institute of Mental Health) told Time Magazine. "It could be [smarter] particularly in the parenting context or more generally. We don't know."
What do you think?
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