Posted on: Monday, April 10, 2006
Mommy brain power
By ERIN CRAWFORD
Gannett News Service
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Motherhood can stimulate brain in new ways, increasing perception, efficiency and motivation.
JOHN T. VALLES | The Honolulu Advertiser
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MAKE THE MOST OF NEW SUPERCHARGED BRAINS
Tips for women on how to nurture post-motherhood intelligence: Don't "surrender to motherhood." Take it back: Use your smarts for yourself as well as your child. Try something new for your brain: painting, writing, a reading group. Don't assume that being distracted or forgetful now and then means you should let your brain do nothing. Recognize new priorities: Your baby will be the main focus of your attention; ensure he or she is well-cared for if you return to work, so you're not constantly worried about your baby's welfare. Then organize yourself at work. Break down large tasks into small ones; do small tasks right away instead of adding them to the pile, so your job doesn't become overwhelming. Don't underestimate the power of sleep: Sleep deprivation is unavoidable at first. Still, get some rest by having your partner share the load. Set rules from the beginning. For example, each partner does a three-night shift. Improve your spin control: Memorize the mantra, "This is a learning opportunity." Imagine that your brain isn't being stressed, but stimulated. See difficult situations, such as a child's tantrum in public, as challenges to be faced rather than avoided. Engage oxytocin: This hormone may help memory and learning, especially in those who deliver vaginally, breast-feed and get massages and skin-to-skin cuddling. Socialize: Don't stay in the house all day with your child. Interact with other new moms, through classes at local hospitals, library programs for toddlers, playgroups. Strollercize: Physical activity will help you feel and think better. Put your child in a stroller and take a brisk walk. Mother thyself: Take brief breaks from work and motherhood responsibilities as little gifts to yourself that are also mentally refreshing. Have an uninterrupted conversation with a friend. Leave work early to see a movie. Little things make a big difference. Multitask — within limits: Just because you can multitask doesn't mean you always should, especially if those tasks are complex and time-consuming. Change the world — starting with your world: Split chores with your spouse. Encourage kids to help with chores, which not only lessens your workload but also teaches them about being considerate, helpful people. Pay attention to news about issues like family leave and daycare, and speak out if you feel moms are getting short shrift. Source: "The Mommy Brain: How Motherhood Makes Us Smarter" by Katherine Ellison (Perseus, $15). Des Moines (Iowa) Register
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Cathy Brown of Kailua remembers how she stepped up her job performance as an executive secretary after the birth of her first daughter.
There were days that motherhood made Brown feel a bit frazzled and that she had to be "more organized in order to do (the) job well, (so) no one can take it from you," said Brown, 46.
Sara Lupkes of Des Moines, Iowa, felt the same pressures. She worked extra hours after she had her children, now 8 and 5.
Lupkes, 35, was worried. Now that she had kids, her employer might think she wasn't contributing enough. With the cost of daycare, she felt financially insecure.
"It felt like I had to improve myself, because now I was a mom ... just so my employers knew I was contributing," she said.
The pressures and insecurities Brown, Lupke and others feel are common, according to author Katherine Ellison, but they can make it difficult for moms to find a balance between home life and work life.
In "The Mommy Brain: How Motherhood Makes Us Smarter" (Perseus, $15), Ellison faces down fears many women harbor that kids will make them too scattered, frazzled and ditzy to be valuable in the business world. Her book tracks Ellison's exploration of scientific research in neurology and psychology, which suggests that motherhood has the potential to make women better at managing stress, multitasking and dealing with people.
Brown agrees.
"You learn how to prioritize and organize your time better so you can balance both your family and your work," said Brown, now a stay-at-home mom of two daughters, ages 18 and 8.
"There are changes in the brain (during pregnancy and early motherhood) — concrete, measurable changes, and later, the way we think and behave is changed," Ellison said.
Ellison, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, delayed her own pregnancy until well into her 30s out of fear that motherhood would dumb her down.
Motherhood turned out to be stressful and exhausting. However, Ellison never developed the "mommy brain" she feared, that mythically ditzy mindset that causes moms to leave their purse in the refrigerator and drop off the baby at the dry cleaners.
When she set out to research the book, in part to reassure herself that her worst intellectual fears were unfounded, she concluded that motherhood should be looked at as a time for learning.
She plumbed studies of rat mothers. With more women in science, "There's beginning to be a critical mass of research on emotional intelligence and parents' brains."
Ellison calls it the "baby-boosted brain" and identifies five attributes of the new mommy mind:
Perception. Studies show motherhood may improve a woman's sense of smell, hearing and make her more attuned visually to infant movement. "Motherhood is an especially powerful experience because it involves 'learning under high-stakes conditions, which is just the sort of learning that drives change in the brain,' " Ellison wrote.
Efficiency. "Working mothers become masters of time management," Ellison wrote. New mothers can have sharper attention, improved focus and become better at prioritizing.
Resiliency. Studies of the hormone oxytocin, which strengthens social interactions, might also help memory and learning, Ellison said. One study of nursing mothers showed oxytocin makes women less reactive to stress hormones, and therefore less anxious, bored, suspicious and more calm and sociable.
Motivation. Human mothers have a "powerful drive to be with their babies, nurture them and keep them safe." Motherhood can provide women with a self-esteem boost that pushes them to try new tasks. Studies of rats show mothers may be better able to conquer fear. Motherhood can also better enable women to create boundaries, such as limiting time at work to protect their home life.
Since having children, Lupkes has switched jobs a few times to find a more flexible company.
Emotional intelligence. Mothers must be cued in to the tiniest clues to sense their babies' needs. "Empathy frequently informs our earliest days with our infants as we try to figure out what they need, how to comfort and satisfy them," she wrote. In addition to better people-reading skills, mothers develop a more empathetic style of speech.
Advertiser staff writer Zenaida Serrano contributed Hawai'i information to this report.
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