Baby Brain? Think Again.
Any pregnant woman will tell you that "baby brain" is indeed a reality – the fogginess, inarticulateness, inability to form a thought, complete a sentence, or remember something. But research is showing that mamas-to-be actually gain some smarts.
Sowing the Seeds of Mother Love
"Most people think of pregnant women as the polar opposite of getting smarter. What they perceive is a hormonal mess. But it's not true. It's an old stereotype," says Don Joseph Goewey, brain expert and author of Mystic Cool.
"Being pregnant increases the capacity to learn," says Goewey, whose research has uncovered five ways the brain "rewires" itself so women get smarter during pregnancy:
Memory of an elephant. A university study found significant increases in mental acuity and memory throughout pregnancy and postpartum; pregnant mammals had more energy, were more curious, and retained detailed information for longer periods of time.
Hormones are good! Estrogen, progesterone, and oxytocin fortify the learning and memory networks. Practical and analytical intelligence are at their peak performance, enabling moms to think logically, make the right decisions, plan, and detect errors. "I became much more efficient and resourceful. I find small ways to do things better," says Jennifer Bright Reich, cofounder of Mommy MD Guides.
Emotionally unstable? Says who? A woman's emotional intelligence actually increases during pregnancy. She develops stronger empathy, attuned communication, and intuition (those famous gut feelings). For pediatrician and author Hana Solomon, "Pregnancy increased my awareness of self and non-self."
Connecting the dots. The brain's system of communication expands and integrates and Mom becomes more coherent and less reactive because her brain is functioning better. Nancy Rappaport, Harvard Medical School professor and author, says, "I usually work at a frenetic pace. Pregnancy taught me to be aware of my limitations."
Helping mom mother better. It's arguable that evolution rewires an expectant mother for greater competency so she can reorganize, remodel, and acquire everything baby needs to survive and flourish.
Now, the bad news
Though memory in general improves during pregnancy, ironically, "prospective memory" appears to suffer. Goewey explains: "Prospective memory is remembering to remember something you need to do in the near future. It's retrieving a document for a meeting; pulling the chicken from the oven in 45 minutes; paying the utility bill on the 15th; remembering to take your prenatal vitamins."
The solution? Make lists. Set timers (even put a note under the timer to remind you why you set it in the first place). "Don't judge, worry, or despair. Understand it as a deficit that comes with the asset of bringing life into the world," says Goewey. "Simply manage around it. It will go away eventually."
And don't neglect to acknowledge the biggest mental and physical toll out there that robs women of the brainpower pregnancy bestows: stress. "Expectant moms need to get skillful at eliminating stress from daily life," says Goewey. Ob-gyn Gina Dado says, "We as nurturers feel we can be superwomen, taking care of everyone. Many of us are forced to do less because of the pregnancy. This is just the beginning of teaching type-A moms a regimen of taking time out for yourself. If mama is happy, everyone is happy."
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