Having children might keep your brain fitter and younger, a new study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), has claimed. The research involving 37,000 adults has been described as the largest investigation of parental brain function to date.
The study highlights that despite the challenges associated with parenting such as exhaustion and stress, having children may enrich a person's life in the long run, providing much-needed cognitive stimulation, physical activity, and social interaction.
"We find parenting more children is associated with higher brain-wide functional connectivity, especially in networks associated with movement and sensation," the study stated.
Most studies involving parenthood exclude the father as they do not physically carry a pregnancy, give birth, or breastfeed but the study saw the participation of over 17,000 men. The findings revealed that despite not having an active involvement in pregnancy, the birth of a child and raising them, profoundly affected the health of their brain.
"These same networks showed lower functional connectivity associated with higher age, suggesting that parenthood might protect against functional brain aging. This effect is observed in both females and males, implicating the caregiving environment, rather than pregnancy alone."
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'The more the merrier'
Additionally, it seems like the more children one has, the better the effects, according to Avram Holmes, a psychiatry professor at the Rutgers Center for Advanced Human Brain Imaging Research and the lead author of the study.
“We're seeing a widespread pattern of functional alterations, where a higher number of children parented is associated with increased functional connectivity, especially in parts of the brain related to movement, sensation and social connection," said Mr Holmes.
The study challenges the long-held belief that raising children not only makes you want to tear your hair out but also breaks your brain. The researchers, however, cautioned that since the study's participants were limited to the UK, more insights from across the globe were required for a definite assumption.
They also stressed that more studies were needed to determine how parenting can help fight brain ageing. The implications could be far-reaching and help scientists combat loneliness and dementia in an aging population, especially since fewer people are having kids these days.
