There is no denying that having a baby pretty much changes everything.
Life as you know it is about to get completely turned on its head. For the better, we'd argue – certainly for the most part.
And while we all know that being pregnant and giving birth can change a woman's physical body, did you know massive changes are also happening on the inside – especially to your brain.
For instance, while we joke about "baby brain" – referring to the forgetfulness and fogging thinking during the last trimester of pregnancy or soon after giving birth that so many of us experience, did you know that it is
actually proven that a woman's brain shrinks between four and eight percent during pregnancy?
Yup, that's right. No wonder you are feeling like you are losing your mind – because you actually
are (at least a teeny, tiny bit of it).
This, Liisa Galea, a neuroscientist at the University of British Columbia, in Canada, explains, all makes sense when you think about it. "Evolutionary speaking, it doesn't make sense that a women needs terrific navigational skills around the time she's giving birth, because she needs to stay close to the nest," Galea explains. "Wild animal studies show that mothers that stay near the nest produce more surviving offspring."
However, the good news is that this loss is only temporarily, and researchers think it simply has to do with our brains rearranging to get ready for the arrival of a baby. In fact, other studies have shown that long term, motherhood can actually
improve brain activity.
In fact, our bodies are so amazing that in just six months after giving birth, a mother's brain has returned to normal size, Galea said. Oh, and get this: Studies in rodents suggest that mothers do
better on tests of memory and multitasking than females that haven't given birth.
You know it's true – you'll find yourself wondering what on earth you did with all your time before having kids, and multitasking will become second nature to you.
Another study showed that the cognitive benefits of motherhood lasts, and may indeed persist throughout a mother's life.
