Maintain pressure on reforms to protect NHSNo link between ‘baby brain’ memory loss and pregnancy
Researchers in Australia have questioned whether being pregnant causes reduced brain function and memory lapses - otherwise known as ‘baby brain’.
A team from the Australian National University found there was no difference in the cognitive function of women who were pregnant compared with women who were not.
Cognitive speed, working memory, and immediate and delayed recall were the four categories that were looked at by the team to ascertain whether pregnant women suffered from the commonly held notion that they were more prone to absent-mindedness.
A total of 1,241 women aged 20-24 were recruited for the four-year study which also found no difference in the cognitive abilities of women who had become mothers in that time period.
Lead researcher Professor Helen Christensen said: “Women and their partners need to be less automatic in their willingness to attribute common memory lapses to a growing or new baby. And obstetricians, family doctors and midwives may need to use the findings from this study to promote the fact that ‘placenta brain’ is not inevitable.”
Cathy Warwick, general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, said: “It is about time that some research lays to rest this notion of pregnant women and the ‘baby brain’ myth.
“Midwives encourage pregnant women to take appropriate rest breaks, at home and at work. Many pregnant women will need this rest, and all of them deserve it.”
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Readers' comments (1)
Anonymous | 4-Feb-2010 5:19 pm
how come every woman I have met in this condition says different?
interesting!
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