Despite the myth that pregnant women acquire "baby brain," which decreases their cognitive functioning and intelligence, new research claims that having a baby can improve a woman's employability and performance and that new mothers are actually more productive after birth than before birth, according to the Daily Mail. The reason for this is allegedly due to the fact that post-natal brains rewire themselves to think in a more strategic manner and cope with stress more effectively. In particular, having a child can stimulate emotional resilience and even improve the effectiveness of timid women in the workplace.
"Being able to be more efficient in your decision-making, being emotionally resilient, maybe being able to engage in different strategies to solve a problem... that sounds like a wonderful executive or manager to me," research scientist Kelly Lambert told New Scientist.
Although previous research in the area found that the brain can shrink by up to 7 percent during pregnancy, new findings point to a subsequent expansion as mothers begin to employ strategic methods of managing stress and exercising judgment and empathy, according to the Telegraph.
"After returning from maternity leave, I began to notice unexpected changes - where I used to be a fairly anxious person, after having my twins, it was much harder to rattle me," said Sally Adee, a features editor at New Scientist. "My to-do list also seemed to evaporate more readily. When I started looking into the science behind all this, I found researchers had uncovered some really surprising changes that maternity causes in the brain."
The research also points to the "baby brain" phenomenon as something that may have risen from cultural priming and social norms that altered the perceptions that women have of themselves and their own brainpower in a negative way.
