By Kate Hilpern
So far today I have put teabags in the fridge and searched the house for my specs, only to find them on my head.
Some call it "mumnesia", others call it "baby brain" or "preghead". What I want to know, at 36 weeks pregnant, is whether it can be the case - as some studies suggest - that my brain has shrunk and that I'm likely to be vague and forgetful for up to a year post-partum. Or is the notion of "preghead" nothing more than a popular myth helping to keep mothers out of the workplace?
"Absent-mindedness is one of the many hallmarks of pregnancy," states www.babycentre.co.uk, as if it's an indisputable fact. And there's plenty of research to back this up. One study, conducted in Australia, discovered that mice that were treated with a hormone associated with pregnancy suffered short-term memory loss and changes in motor skills.
A study from the Australian Catholic University - on humans - found that the difference in memory skills (not just in pregnancy, but well beyond giving birth) could be as great as comparing the mental ability of someone aged 20 with someone aged 60. "What we found is memory tasks which are more challenging or more novel, or those that require multi-tasking, are likely to be disrupted," explains psychologist Julie Henry.
While Henry doesn't rule out the possibility of hormonal changes as the cause (high levels of oxytocin, naturally produced during pregnancy and nursing, are known to have an amnesic effect), she's convinced it's related to women being preoccupied with the upcoming birth and and the massive changes to come.
Others point to iron deficiency, which affects many pregnant women, as a contributor to forgetfulness.
Most alarming of all is the notion of the brain shrinking in the third trimester due to hormonal changes. Although a study by the Royal Postgraduate Medical School says it does plump up again after the birth, it doesn't make for comfortable reading.
Pregnant women seem convinced they go ga-ga. According to a report in the Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing, 82 percent of the women surveyed reported some type of absent-mindedness during pregnancy.
But I'm still torn. Cognitive psychologist Ros Crawley, of Sunderland University, believes I'm right to feel cynical. Although women believe they are intellectually incapacitated by pregnancy and motherhood, she insists it's only a perception.
Crawley concludes that because of the mumnesia stereotype - and because women are encouraged to see themselves as at the mercy of their hormones - it's likely they notice the cognitive slips we all make and then attribute it to being pregnant.
In any case, researchers who tracked 2 500 women over 10 years came to similar conclusions. In fact, the scientists from the Australian National University believe pregnancy improves women's mental abilities, and it may be permanent.
Research by Dr Craig Kinsley of Richmond University in Virginia suggests that giving birth supercharges brainpower to equip women for the challenge of rearing a child. - The Independent