DR. JAY KUMAR

Happy Mother’s Day! Ask any mother, and she will say: “Motherhood changes you!” What’s even more remarkable is that science suggests that motherhood changes not only her body, but literally alters her brain. Recent studies into the maternal brain indicate that from the moment a woman becomes a mother to the first few months after delivery, her brain undergoes tremendous changes making moms smarter, more adaptive, and fearless!

Some rather recent and intriguing findings in neuroscience suggest that mothers appear to have bigger and smarter brains than the rest of us! It turns out that once a woman becomes pregnant, her brain is forever transformed becoming more developed and enhanced to cope with the many challenges of raising children. In a recent study published in Behavioral Neuroscience, scientists observed that specific areas of the brain grew in thickness and structure in first-time mothers. The study further indicates that new moms who held a “positive” disposition to their babies showed greater development in regions of the brain associated with increased judgment, emotional processing, non-verbal communication, empathy, and reasoning!

So what causes our moms to have the brain of a Super Woman? We have another mother to thank for that - Mother Nature! Nature has programmed a mother to adapt and to respond to all possible demands to protect her offspring, thus ensuring the survival of the species. It is this evolutionary ability for mothers to guard their young that accounts for even more fascinating facts behind the maternal brain. So what exactly makes a mother’s brain more adaptive, stronger, and smarter? Here are just a few remarkable findings about the majestic maternal brain:

• Greater Memory! Areas in the brain connected to spatial memory and movement enhance a mom’s ability to keep her baby in constant sight and sound. Who knew your mom has a natural GPS built into her brain to keep track of your every movement! This increased ability to monitor her baby’s every movement allows a mom to multitask, while still having a “sense” of where her children are at any given moment. Apparently these areas of the brain are more developed in mothers versus in the brains of women without children. What’s even more amazing is that these changes in the brain aren’t limited to just biological mothers, but they appear also to occur in the brains of mothers who have adopted children.

• Fearless Super Mom! The area in the brain that governs the human fear response also appears to function differently in mothers than in other humans. The moment a woman becomes a mother, less activity seems to occur in the fear centers of the brain. This ability is what makes moms even more courageous and combative whenever a threat is perceived to her young. As we know from observing nature, the most ferocious form of an animal is a mother whose young are in danger.

• Dad, Don’t Leave! Perhaps the most incredible finding to come out of research into the maternal brain is how a pregnant woman’s brain and body influence the brain of her male partner. Did you know that about 65% of male partners experience the phenomenon of morning sickness and other traits generally associated with pregnancy? How is that possible, you might ask? It turns out that in the last few weeks before a woman delivers, the brain of an expecting mom will release pheromones into the air triggering levels of the hormone prolactin, responsible for lactation, in men. Even more astounding, the same pheromones released by a pregnant mom will decrease levels of testosterone in her male partner by as much as a third. This decrease of the important male sex hormone might be nature’s way of preventing a man from having a wandering eye, thus, guaranteeing that both the man and woman have the increased advantage of raising a child together. Testosterone reduction in men is likely why also a dad’s hearing will even improve once his baby is born, enabling him to become alert to the needs of his child.

• Falling In Love by a Smile! When a mother sees her baby smile it triggers the parts of her brain that also happen to be the same areas responsible for us humans falling in love! Something known as mirror neurons will fire in a mother’s brain releasing a rush of the neurochemical oxytocin, the love hormone that deepens the mother-child bond. Speaking of the bond between a mother and child, by far, the most astonishing revelation about the maternal brain is its ability to sync with the heartbeat of her child. An experiment at the Heart Math Institute had a mother place a baby next to her own heart. The scientists monitored the brain wave activity of the mother and the heartbeat of the child. What they found was simply incredible! Apparently, the brain wave activity of the mother synchronized with the heartbeat of her child, indicating a link in the electro-magnetic fields between them. It just goes to show just how truly powerful the bond is between a mother and her baby, and that it can now actually be measured!

So for all the times you heard your mom say, “See, I told you so” when growing up, it was merely because your mom had a smarter and stronger brain than you did! So as we celebrate Mother’s Day, we now have another wonderful reason to love our moms more for than just their hearts…we can also now love them for their magnificent brains!

Wishing all you moms out there a joyous and wonderful Mother’s Day! Please feel free to share with your own mom and to all those special mothers in your life!

Dr. Jay Kumar