Pregnancy alters woman's brain 'for at least two years' • Hacker News Board

Re: Pregnancy alters woman's brain 'for at least two years'

#101

Post by kaitai » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 6:04 PM UTC

erroneousfunk wrote: post #67

ingamx77 wrote: post #26

I had the baby while at university, and it's true. While I was always brilliant in math and physics, I couldn't do simple things anymore. That was very frustrating. Thanks god the physics professor was very forgiving as he noticed the change

It was probably more about sleep deprivation, chronic stress, and immediate reprioritization in your life, more than anything. It's hard to focus on learning new tasks when you're tired, and you're forced to confront a million new things at home. The study just said that, in small areas of the brain, gray matter was reduced, and they theorized that this specialization helped a new mother recognize her infant and its…

I don't know much about the reality of 'baby brain', but in the study under discussion the researchers tested cognitive skills like memory, verbal skills, and working memory, and there was no significant change over time. It looks like the after-pregnancy tests were given late enough that kids were probably sleeping through the night (or at least in 5-6 hr chunks).

Re: Pregnancy alters woman's brain 'for at least two years'

#102

Post by kaitai » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 6:07 PM UTC

Frondo wrote: post #85

erroneousfunk wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was probably more about sleep deprivation, chronic stress, and immediate reprioritization in your life, more than anything. It's hard to focus on learning new tasks when you're tired, and you're forced to confront a million new things at home. The study just said that, in small areas of the brain, gray matter was reduced, and they theorized that this specialization helped a new mother recognize her infant and its…

From conversations I've had with several mothers, it's not just sleep deprivation, there's a fog that someone else here called "baby brain". This article suggests a physical reason why that is so, as well.

I have to say I don't think the article supports that at all. The study looks at a 2-year stretch and the changes in all but the hippocampus are still there at 2 years. Even friends who have reported "baby brain" don't claim it lasts 2 years, and synaptic pruning is not correlated with feeling foggy in any other study (and there have been a bunch!).

Re: Pregnancy alters woman's brain 'for at least two years'

#103

Post by dsacco » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 6:10 PM UTC

kaitai wrote: post #96

It's unfortunate that the link that made the front page here is to the BBC article rather than the NYTimes article [1] on the same study, as the NYTimes article much more clearly addresses a number of the points brought up by commenters here today. The NYTimes article briefly mentions other non-pregnancy related studies on the "pruning" of grey matter. One place to get a bunch of citations for studies on synaptic pru…

Thanks for making this point, especially with regards to pregnancy being a loaded discussion topic.

In the original study I found it very interesting that the authors drew parallels between the "maturation" of a new mother's brain (grey matter reductions) and the brains of adolescents undergoing pregnancy. If this study replicates, I would love to see followup studies exploring measures of narcissism, time management, executive functioning and facial recognition over time in women shortly before, during and after pregnancy (and perhaps even two years afterwards). These are all areas in which adolescents experience significant variations in functioning when compared to the general population, and there could be a lot of fertile ground here.

One other thought that strikes me is how the grey matter alterations could potentially impact teenage mothers. If the mother's brain has not left adolescence by the time she experiences pregnancy, it would be interesting to see how the grey matter alterations differ, considering the authors' comparison.

Re: Pregnancy alters woman's brain 'for at least two years'

#104

Post by herewegoguys » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 6:20 PM UTC

dsacco wrote: post #92

fs111 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

please recalibrate your irony detector. Thank you.

Detected; I reject that it's relevant to the discussion, and I'm disappointed it's the top comment. Lifestyle changes aren't relevant to the research presented in the study. What would be relevant is contrary evidence of hormonal changes in males after their spouses undergo pregnancy, or structural alterations in the brain. Of course each parent is impacted by literally taking care of an infant, but what does that ha…

You must be great at parties

Re: Pregnancy alters woman's brain 'for at least two years'

#105

Post by lostlogin » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 6:23 PM UTC

partiallypro wrote: post #51

I always wonder about claims like this from both sides. I see people claiming pregnancy alters a woman's brain, miscarriages can cause postpartum depression, but then see claims that abortions do not effect the brain at all. The third I find hard to believe given the first two. And I know this is a touchy topic, but I am pro-choice yet find it a bit baffling that we ignore some of the science behind its effects on th…

> I think we can all agree that we want the woman to be well.

There is a side of the argument that doesn't give this impression at all.

Re: Pregnancy alters woman's brain 'for at least two years'

#106

Post by mason240 » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 6:38 PM UTC

cli wrote: post #75

oconnor0 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Many mothers do not change lifestyle. I'm not sure what you mean. Babies necessitate a change of lifestyle if only because they demand to be fed in the middle of the night.

There are cultures where the grandparents or other relatives mostly take care of the children while the mother works (some parts of China), and there are people who pay for nannies to take care of the children at night.

But if they are in part this study it doesn't matter.

Re: Pregnancy alters woman's brain 'for at least two years'

#107

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 6:39 PM UTC

oconnor0 wrote: post #71

majkinetor wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is irrelevant as it is consequence of life style change. Many mothers do not change lifestyle. This however makes me think how much of the woman change is due to the life style change which is mandatory in given situation for majority of mothers and how much is programmed.

> Many mothers do not change lifestyle. I'm not sure what you mean. Babies necessitate a change of lifestyle if only because they demand to be fed in the middle of the night.

[deleted]

Re: Pregnancy alters woman's brain 'for at least two years'

#108

Post by frahs » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 6:47 PM UTC

herewegoguys wrote: post #104

dsacco wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Detected; I reject that it's relevant to the discussion, and I'm disappointed it's the top comment. Lifestyle changes aren't relevant to the research presented in the study. What would be relevant is contrary evidence of hormonal changes in males after their spouses undergo pregnancy, or structural alterations in the brain. Of course each parent is impacted by literally taking care of an infant, but what does that ha…

You must be great at parties

This isn't a party

Re: Pregnancy alters woman's brain 'for at least two years'

#109

Post by nommm-nommm » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 6:52 PM UTC

Kroniker wrote: post #91

statictype wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Called" - implies that it's not actually sexist when in fact it is.

It isn't sexist to study sexual dimorphism. It would be sexist to have a conclusion about the sexes and then cherrypick evidence to support it- but finding evidence and then drawing a conclusion is in no way sexist.

Read what the comment was replying to, "we should interpret [differences between the sexes] with caution."

Re: Pregnancy alters woman's brain 'for at least two years'

#110

Post by nommm-nommm » Tue, Dec 20, 2016, 6:53 PM UTC

throwaway7645 wrote: post #86

erroneousfunk wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does this research imply that there's any effect on a pregnant woman/new mother's ability to take a PE exam? The study talks about a gray matter reduction in small areas of the brain associated with social interaction. Based on other experiments, they further theorized that this may be a tool to help the mother quickly recognize her infant and assess its needs. Has nothing to do with engineering...

It doesn't. I poorly skimmed it too quickly. She probably had 20+ coworkers tell her she would fail due to pregnancy-brain though, so it was nice to see her pass lol.

Her coworkers don't seem like very pleasant people.