When you become a parent, your life changes dramatically. Parents often talk about the sleep deprivation of the newborn stage, the frustrating years of toddlerhood, and the mood swings of the adolescent years.
Researchers discovered a few years ago that becoming a parent changes the parents’ physical brain and chemistry. Studies have shown that in new mothers, the gray matter of the brain can grow, particularly the area dealing with empathy.
Data also shows that we develop a better sense of threat detection after becoming parents in order to help better protect our child.
But can parenting keep your brain younger? Scientists are now saying yes.
Parenting Causes Positive Age-Related Changes
Due to the stress and life changes required after becoming a parent, it has long been thought that having children causes one to age more quickly. Historical documents and studies over the years support the theory that women, in particular, who have more than one child tend to live shorter lives.
Several recent studies offer some eye-opening findings among moms
A 2018 study from Northwestern and the University of Washington found that women’s cells aged faster, from six months to two years, with each subsequent pregnancy. According to the study, “although there is good evidence that having more children, especially more than four or five, can increase the risk of certain diseases and shorten lifespan, researchers still don’t really know why.”
However, Science Daily reported research out of Simon Frasier University in 2016 that reinforces the theory that having children keeps a person young. This study showed that the number of children a woman has impacts the rate at which her body ages positively. With an increased number of childbirths, the women’s DNA actually changed, and life span increased.
In 2024, the Yale School of Medicine published research showing that while a mother’s cells age during pregnancy, the effects are reversed in the following postpartum months. Dr. O’Donnell and his team discovered that “at three months postpartum, we saw a remarkably large decrease in biological age, by as much as eight years for some individuals.”
Dads Also Benefit From Being A Parent
So, while our maternal cells and biological age may stay young, what about our brains? And what about dads? Do fathers receive any brain benefits from parenting?
PubMed published an article in early 2024 based on UK Biobank studies, stating that “the results showed associations between a greater number of children born/fathered and younger brain age in both females and males.” This supports the theory that both mothers’ and fathers’ brains are kept young by having children.
Now, new research from Rutgers University and Yale University further reinforces that ideaology. Scientists studied the original findings from the UK Biobank study along with brain scans and family information. Their additional findings confirm that becoming a parent positively impacts brain health.
The study of approximately 37,000 adults shows that the anti-aging benefits are not biological and, therefore, apply to both mothers and fathers. These findings point to “the benefits coming from the experience of parenting,” indicating that foster or adoptive parents also receive brain benefits.
The research also shows that the positive effects are increased with more children. The team “found that parents with more children tended to have stronger connectivity in key brain networks, especially those involved in movement and sensation. These same networks typically show decreased connectivity as people age.”