A new study has revealed that having kids can keep your brain healthy and young. According to the researchers, this is the largest investigation of parental brain function to date.
The findings of the study were published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal.
The researchers maintain that although parenthood comes with a lot of challenges like as exhaustion and stress, it can have many health benefits in the longer run. According to the researchers, having children can provide 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.
The scientists maintain that most studies exclude fathers as they do not physically carry a pregnancy, give birth, or breastfeed, however, this study included over 17,000 men.
The team found that also men are also biological associated with childbirth and breastfeeding, the birth of a child and raising them, significantly 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.”
According to Avram Holmes, a psychiatry professor at the Rutgers Center for Advanced Human Brain Imaging Research and the lead author of the study, the more children one has, the better the effects they have on their health.
“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 Holmes.
The researchers also emphasised that more studies were needed to determine how parenting can help fight brain ageing.