It’s been known for a while that the stress a mother feels during pregnancy has an effect on the brain of the growing baby.
A baby in the womb is actively growing and the brain is changing rapidly during this time.
The foetus grows, explores and makes various connections with its mother.
A new study shows that this connection directly affects brain development in babies. A mother’s stress during pregnancy has a direct effect on the neural pathways of the unborn child’s brain.
Researchers used foetal resting-state fMRI to examine functional connectivity in 47 human foetuses. They were scanned between the 30th and the 37th week of gestation.
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Participants were mothers from low-resource and high-stress urban settings and many reported high-levels of depression, anxiety, stress and worry.
Mothers who reported high stress had foetuses which showed reduced efficiency in organising neural functional systems.
This is the first time that researchers have seen a direct influence of maternal stress on foetal brain development as shown by the scans which is independent of the influences of post-natal environment.
The researchers found the greatest influence on the cerebellum which has the highest density of glucocorticoid receptors – involved in stress responses – than any other place in the brain.
This study is part of the work to understand how the human brain develops across the lifespan of a human being from foetus to old age. The data suggests that the brain does not develop in a sequence from simple systems such as motor and vision to more complex high-order systems but rather first develops areas that will be most critical in bridging across systems.
Stress during pregnancy plays an important role in brain development of our children and taking that into account, we can make informed and enlightened decisions which are best for our children’s growth and development.
Pregnancy is an exciting time for you and can bring worries and stresses along with it. Take some time to indulge in stress relief interventions such as yoga, massages or aromatherapy. Find someone to talk to so you can share your worries and know that by relieving stress you are not only helping yourself but also looking after you unborn child’s health and brain development.
Source: Cognitive Neuroscience Society
