He Women’s brain experience important changes in its structure during the pregnancy and the postpartum. There are many studies that show that there is a reduction in the volume of gray matter, responsible for most cognition, sensations or learning.
This gray matter constantly decreases throughout pregnancy, starting in the first weeks of gestation, stabilizing at the time of childbirth and persisting years after the baby’s birth. Besides, 80% of brain regions are reduced.
Man’s brain changes when he is a father
However, there is greater ignorance about How it affects man’s brain to be a father. A recent article, Published in the scientific journal Jama Psychiatry In November 2024, it analyzes the changes in the paternal brain after childbirth.
The article highlights a study on the analysis of the brain image, in which a Decrease in gray matter In the orbitofrontal cortex, the posterior cingular cortex, the insula, the fusiform turn and the anterior cingulate cortex of the left flow.
However, it was also found that there was a Increased gray matter In other areas of the brain. Specifically, in the right temporal pole, the hypothalamus, the amygdala, the striated body, the subgenual cortex, the upper temporal circumvolution and the lateral prefrontal cortex.
Changes in man’s brain
Jama Psychiatry
In addition, the article, written by Hugo Bottemanne and Lucie Joly, points out that «the first -time parents They showed a significant reduction in the cortical volume of pregnant ».
Decrease in testosterone during pregnancy
Although parents do not experience physiological and hormonal changes, some studies demonstrate a decrease in levels of testosterone In future parents during their partner’s pregnancy and it has been shown that “these hormonal differences correlate with brain responses to children’s stimuli after childbirth.”
Another study revealed a correlation between the gestational age and the activation of the lower frontal turn of the brain and the tonsil in parents during pregnancy. «Together, these findings suggest that Hormonal dynamics It can influence paternal brain plasticity during pregnancy, before the first care experience, ”says the article.
Changes to baby stimuli
In another study, on the functional image of the brain, it is verified that parents have a “preferential brain activation” when they are exposed to baby -related stimuliin contrast to men who were not parents.
In this sense, the paternal brain is related to a greater activation of areas such as the iansular or the medial prefontal cortex Seeing images or listening to sounds from your own baby compared to other unknown babies. However, it is not clear if these changes occur in the postpartum or begin during pregnancy.
Baby care, key
Most research focuses on the plasticity of the paternal brain after the baby care experience, key in these transformations. In this sense, a study indicates that brain responses from caregiverswho raise their children without the mother’s participation, present “a greater activation in the Emotions processing networks towards their own interactions with babies, ”similar to mothers.
And it is that the findings of these studies on changes in the brain of men when they are parents suggest that the time dedicated to children’s care is a crucial factor in the brain plasticity. Specifically, it correlates with the connection between the tonsil and the upper temporal groove, regions associated with the processes of mentalization and social perception.
«The above results confirm that Paternal care phenotypes depend on the same neuronal and hormonal substrates as maternal care, which is known as the Global Human Care Network», Says Jama Psychiatry’s article.
As for the year following childbirth, the neurobiological mechanisms involved are still unknown. “The brain changes observed in parents affect areas involved in emotional regulation,” says the article. And it is that perinatal neuroplasticity “could increase the vulnerability to mental conditions, weakening the ability to deal with the factors of stress», Says the article, which demands more research on this issue.
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