Hypnobirthing and Child Birth Articles

That is what scientist have recently been claiming, the popular misconception of a women's brain turning to mush during motherhood has been disproven.  In fact our grey matter increases in size.

Research carried out in America included scanning the brains of new Mothers at periodic times after they had given birth.  Comparisons from two to four weeks to three to four months showed a significant increase in certain parts of the brain.  Women who were more excited and gushing about their child showed a greater increase in brain size.

It is unusual to see this type of change in brain size without other factors being involved, but suggested reasons include the hormone levels and the new challenges Motherhood presents being factors that lead to this change.

Dr Craig Kinsley and Dr Elizabeth Meyer speculated that the protective nature to care for a child may be the response of this brain building.

Whilst this was only a small study many interesting questions have been raised.

What about during Pregnancy?

During pregnancy many women complain of short term memory loss and can get quite frustrated at this time in the work and home enviroment.  Again this may be down to hormones and the many changes that are going on with your body.  Here are a few tips to help keep your mind and body in top form during this exciting period:

• Sleep - make sure you are having sufficient sleep, your body needs to sleep more during pregnancy
• Nutrition - your diet, eat a good variety of freshly cooked meals.  Talk to you Doctor about supplements that may help you during pregnancy
• Fluids - make sure you drink enough, dehydration can play havoc with your system
• Exercise - gentle exercise such as walking and swimming will keep your circulation flowing and keep you mentally alert.

Social scientists have shown in many studies over the years that supportive touch can have good outcomes in a number of different realms. Consider the following examples: If a teacher touches a student on the back or arm, that student is more likely to participate in class. The more athletes high-five or hug their teammates, the better their game. A touch can make patients like their doctors more. If you touch a bus driver, he's more likely to let you on for free. If a waitress touches the arm or shoulder of a customer, she may get a larger tip.

But why does a friendly or supportive touch have such universal and positive effects? What's happening in our brains and bodies that accounts for this magic?

Skin Deep?

To understand this, we'll start on the outside — with the skin. It's our largest organ, covering about 20 square feet, which is about the size of a twin mattress.

If somebody touches you, there's pressure pushing on your skin at the point of contact. And just under the skin are pressure receptors called "Pacinian corpuscles," says Tiffany Field, one of the world's leading touch researchers and the director of the Touch Research Institute at the University of Miami in Florida.May 12, 2010

"They receive pressure stimulation," Field says, "and the pressure receptors send a signal to the brain."

The Pacinian corpuscles' signals go directly to an important nerve bundle deep in the brain called the vagus nerve. The vagus sometimes is called "the wanderer" because it has branches that wander throughout the body to several internal organs, including the heart. And it's the vagus nerve that then slows the heart down and decreases blood pressure.

Field describes studies in which subjects were asked to perform something stressful, like public speaking or taking a timed math test. The subjects' partners were also part of the experiment, hugging or holding hands with the subjects when the researchers told them to.

"They found that, in fact, people who were given this stressful task, if they'd been holding hands or being hugged, they would have a lower blood pressure and lower heart rate, suggesting that they were less stressed," Field says.