Are you pregnant and feel more clueless than usual? This syndrome has an explanation. There are many women who experience a partial loss of short-term memory known as pregnancy amnesia, mumnecia, or what Anglo-Saxons usually call placenta brain (placenta brain).
It is produced because pregnancy hormones act in the brain making it more sensitive. It starts from the second half of pregnancy and remains approximately up to three months after delivery.
At this stage of pregnancy, the woman is more aware of the arrival of the baby in the family, of her new life and of everything that must be prepared for the birth, often producing forgetfulness and distraction.
But in addition to that, the hormonal revolution experienced by pregnant women produces changes in the woman's brain that affects mainly the spatial memory, that is, the one related to where we put things.
The culprits of forgetfulness are high levels of hormones such as prolactin, estradiol, progesterone and cortisol in the body of the pregnant woman, and mainly oxytocin. The one known as the love hormone because it intervenes intensively in the connection with the baby, is also responsible for producing a partial loss of memory, even during the period of breastfeeding, in which the hormone is secreted.
It is normal to forget things, to have to go home because we have forgotten something, forget an appointment, a birthday or where we left the keys.
However, despite these distractions, motherhood makes us smarter. It has been shown that women's brains improve during pregnancy. Some key brain areas alter their size by persisting these changes for decades.
Cognitive abilities improve when women become pregnant and when becoming mothers there is a brain overstimulation that makes them more alert.
In my case the memory loss has been very evident. He couldn't remember things he just said, thought or did. Not to mention my usual dismissals, even more exacerbated. Have you (or your partners in the case of parents) suffered? pregnancy amnesia?
