What causes memory loss after childbirth?

Becoming a mother for the first time is a very happy thing. For the first time, you feel that there is a little life in your body, and you will become full of maternal love. However, even if pregnancy is happy, many problems will arise. The pregnant mother will first experience morning sickness, body edema, bad temper, etc. Some mothers find that their memory has declined during the confinement period after giving birth. Yang Mi is a particularly good example. So what should we do when encountering this situation?

On the one hand, it may be because of the changes in hormones in women's bodies caused by pregnancy and childbirth. When the estrogen level in women's bodies decreases, it may lead to a decline in memory. However, there is currently no research to prove that the hormonal changes caused by pregnancy and childbirth will definitely lead to memory loss or even "stupidity" in women.

The other, and most important, reason is that women's attention changes after they become pregnant and give birth. Because of the birth of a new life, new mothers unconsciously put other things in second place and focus their energy entirely on their children. Forgetting is also a defense mechanism produced by the body after childbirth, which allows new mothers to forget the pain of childbirth.

How to Improve Memory for New Moms

1. Get regular health checks

High blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking, and being overweight are all bad for blood vessels, which are the channels that transport nutrients to the brain. Recent studies have shown that people who have undergone cerebral aortic vasodilation treatment can increase blood flow to the brain, improve memory and thinking ability; people with hypothyroidism cannot secrete enough thyroid hormone and cannot regulate brain activity normally, which will lead to memory loss.

2. Reduce stress

Anyone who has ever given up mid-speech knows that too much stress can cause your mind to go blank. The latest research from Yale University reveals the physiological reasons for this. Stress can activate an enzyme in the human body, protein kinase C, which interferes with the normal functioning of the brain center responsible for higher-level thinking.

In addition, stress can easily distract people and reduce their ability to store new information and form new memories. One easy coping strategy is to write in a journal, which can calm your mind and help you process and remember what you've experienced.

3. Do more physical exercise

A study of 18,000 women found that those who walked regularly had brains that were three years younger than those who walked less frequently. Another study of middle-aged women also showed that those who did 20-30 minutes of aerobics every day were 60% less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease than others.

If a pregnant mother finds that her memory has declined during the confinement period, she should not worry too much. It may not only be due to the reduced secretion of estrogen in the body, which makes it easy to forget things and have disordered thinking, but also because she has become a new mother and her attention is focused on the child, which leads to poor memory. Therefore, there is no need to worry too much. There will be improvement if you follow the above methods.