Yes, during pregnancy, future mothers lose gray matter. And if pregnant women’s brains shrink, it’s for good reason. But be aware that these effects can last up to two years after giving birth, according to a study.
Pregnancy is punctuated by upheavals, from the first months. Hormones affect mood, the breasts change, the organs move to allow the fetus to grow, as the belly becomes rounder… While the symptoms of pregnancy are numerous, some are less well known, but just as common in pregnant women. This is particularly the case for the transformation of the brain! We don’t necessarily know, but according to a study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, future mothers lose gray matter in several regions of the brain, mainly those associated with social interactions. Indeed, according to researchers at Leiden University (Netherlands), changes appear in the perception and interpretation of other people’s desires, their emotions, their intentions and even their mood.
But let future mothers rest assured: “loss of volume does not necessarily translate into loss of brain function” explains Professor Elseline Hoekzema, author of the study, on CNN. Concretely, this loss of gray matter would simply be linked to the woman’s ability to adapt to the stress of pregnancy and the hormonal upheaval. She even adds that shrinking the brain would allow pregnant women to further develop their maternal instincts as well as their behavior as mothers.
Thus, the brains of future mothers would be “more efficient in areas which allow them to respond to the needs of their baby or to detect threatening people in their environment” explains Dr Raj who led a another study comparing the brain size of pregnant women who had a normal pregnancy to those who had preeclampsia. The results also show that brain size decreases during pregnancy, and increases again after childbirth. It reveals that the brain shrinks more in the event of complications during pregnancy, and that this reduction can last a few months or even two years after childbirth. Note that these brain changes are common to future mothers with a natural pregnancy, as well as those who have had IVF.