HOW BECOMING A DAD CHANGES THE WAY YOUR BRAIN WORKS

Written by Liza John   

There is clearly no lack of information regarding what happens to a mother’s body and brain as they go through pregnancy and give birth. From even before conception, what happens to a female body has been under study for centuries. However, the transformation that occurs to a father’s brain and body has not been as closely examined.   

As far as everyone is concerned, the development of a ‘dad bod’ is the extent of our knowledge. Thankfully, recent studies have shed some light on the topic. Considering human males add to the few mammals that are involved in the rearing of the offspring, it is important to know what changes they undergo after becoming a dad.     

Growing Brain  

Just like how various areas of the brain seems to grow in volume during pregnancy and after childbirth in a female, brain volume increases in new dads too. The growth of brain volume in certain areas suggests that preparing to be a better father has been written into the human DNA. The grey areas that grow in males also grow in females during the process.   

Neural centres that undergo change during this time are the striatum (involved in reward processing), hypothalamus (hormonal control), amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex (involved in emotional processing), and the lateral prefrontal cortex (involved in memory and decision-making). The prefrontal brain is responsible for the common attachment behaviour that new dads exhibit.   

Or The Not-Growing Brain  

While some areas of the new dad brain are growing and developing, certain other areas tend to shrink. A slight decrease in the grey matter areas of the ‘default mode network’ indicates that the dad is no longer cruising through life by expending minimum attentional resources. The decrease of the volume of areas such as the medial prefrontal cortex, post-central sulcus, precuneus, and inferior parietal cortex means that the dad is staying vigilant lest something happen to the baby.  

Along with this, many other areas also drop in brain volume, resulting in poorer memory and decision-making. Now you know why and from where the dad jokes originated. Areas related to anxiety and grooming behaviour in animals such as the orbitofrontal cortex also see a reduction in size.   

Changing Hormones  

You may have seen testosterone as the ‘man’s hormone’ and you are right. Testosterone is implicated in most of the functions that become characteristic of the male human species. However, with fatherhood, there is a slight decline in the amount of testosterone that the male body produces. This makes them more receptive towards the baby and to the effects of oxytocin and dopamine.   

Coming slightly closer to the mother in the hormone profile, dads involved in raising their babies become more open to cuddling due to the oxytocin. They also see an increase in hormones like oestrogen, prolactin, and glucocorticoids. Whether it is due to the changing hormones or their involvement in raising children, new fathers also show increased neural activity when they come across the child.  

Increased Receptivity  

While mothers are described as having finely tuned skills to sense their baby’s needs, fathers are not far behind either. Just like mothers, involved fathers can distinguish their baby’s cries from that of others and differentiate between what each cry stands for. Gradually with bonding and spending quality time together, dads also become emotionally connected with their children. This makes it easier for dads to soothe the baby when in distress and to anticipate their needs without the mothers’ guidance.   

Mental Health Landscape  

As mentioned previously, hormonal changes occur in a new dad’s body these chemical changes are bound to influence the new parent’s health. The drop in testosterone makes males more prone to depression, making post-partum depression a condition that men also can experience. Apart from this, the sleep deprivation that comes from taking care of a newborn and stress can reduce their psychological wellbeing.  

Final Thoughts   

Nurturing newborns into energetic young adults is not an easy task. Earlier, since the task was assigned to women alone, the effects of child-rearing were studied only on them. Seeing that men are getting more hands-on in their child’s life, looking into this research gap can benefit many. Also, note that the research in the field is nascent and there are limitations to all the studies that showed us what happens to the man’s brain after becoming a dad.