Motherhood may make women smarter and help prevent Alzheimer’s by bathing the brain in protective hormones. Tests on rats show that the ones who raise two or more litters of pups do better in tests of memory and skills than rats who have no babies. Their brains also show changes that suggest they may be protected against Alzheimer’s.
“Our research shows that the hormones of pregnancy are protecting the brain, including estrogen, which we know has many neuroprotective effects,” says researcher Craig Kinsley. “When people think about pregnancy, they think about what happens to infants and the mother from the neck down. They do not realize that hormones are washing on the brain.?