Pregnancy and Motherhood: Women's Brains Permanently Altered?

Pregnancy and motherhood has been found to permanently alter a woman’s brains, specifically how it and the body may react to future treatments or hormones later in life, a recent study says.
Researchers wanted to see how women who had given birth to children would respond to “estrogen hormone treatments, which are often prescribed to treat brain disorders in middle-aged and older women,” reported CTV News.

They tested rats who had experienced motherhood, as well as rats who hadn’t and found the estrogen treatment improved the learning of those rats that had been mothers, but impaired the learning of the other rats.

“Our most recent research shows that previous motherhood alters cognition and neuroplasticity in response to hormone therapy, demonstrating that motherhood permanently alters the brain,” said Liisa Galea, head researcher of the study.

Being aware of how women’s bodies may react to certain hormones in brain treatments could aid in knowing what will or won’t actually help, or what could be dangerous with treatments.

For More and Original Article by Mandy Morgan of Deseret News 

Learn how you can become a Mental Health Aide.