Pregnancies affect the female brain and cause forgetfulness

Researchers are studying the effects of pregnancy on brain function

Changes in the brain occur in women during pregnancy, which are not just about memory. In the past, many pregnant women have reported having suffered from forgetfulness and inattention. These brain-induced changes have now been scientifically proven by researchers.

Scientists found in their recent study that changes in brain function during pregnancy are a real phenomenon. These changes affect several cognitive areas. The physicians published the results of their study in the English-language journal "The Medical Journal of Australia".

Pregnant women often complain about problems with concentration and memory. Physicians are now studying the effects of pregnancy on the affected women's brain. (Image: nuzza11 / fotolia.com)

Experts analyze the data from 20 studies

For their study, the physicians analyzed the combined data from a total of 20 different studies describing the relationship between pregnancies and changes in the brain. The researchers examined the differences in the cognitive functions of 709 pregnant women and 521 women without pregnancy.

Pregnant women performed worse on memory tests

The current study looks at how pregnancy affects other cognitive areas outside memory, the experts say. Specifically, it was about whether these changes can vary depending on the trimester of pregnancy. The results show that pregnant women perform much worse in the measurement of memory and executive functions (including attention, decision making, and planning) than non-pregnant women. This difference is particularly pronounced in the third trimester.

Detected effects have no dramatic impact on everyday life

When women were examined at several times during their pregnancy, the decline began in the first trimester of pregnancy and then stabilized from the middle to the end of pregnancy, the researchers explain. However, it should be noted that the observed differences in pregnant women were still within the normal range, although at the lower end of this range, the experts add. The observed effects in pregnant women thus have no dramatic impact on everyday life. The affected women will usually just find that it requires more mental effort to perform routine tasks.

Gray matter in the brains of pregnant women was reduced

The changes may well be noticed by persons close to the pregnant women, but this depends heavily on the personal experience of each woman in relation to the pregnancy, explain the physicians. A study previously published in the journal Neuroscience showed that in pregnant women the so-called gray matter was reduced in the brain areas associated with the processing of social information. The changes in the brains of pregnant women could play an important role in preparing the affected women for the education of their children and their new role as mother, the study authors assume.

Gray matter losses are restored over time

The same study also found that the loss of gray matter in the hippocampus is restored two years after the birth of a child. This supports the assumption that the observed cognitive decline is not permanent. But there are still some questions to answer to learn more about this phenomenon. For example, it is unclear whether the changes during pregnancy reach into early parenting and how long they could last.

Pregnancy is a time of massive changes

Even underlying mechanisms are still unclear and offer scope for speculation. When women experience major hormonal changes during pregnancy, the increased hormones estrogen, progesterone and oxytocin are likely to play an important role in these cognitive changes, experts explain. Other factors can also contribute, such as broken sleep patterns, mood swings, increased stress levels and morning sickness, the researchers add. Pregnancy is a time of massive physical, psychological and social changes. So it's not surprising that it affects the mothers and that she is distracted from time to time. (As)