Human Hormones

A “father brain”?

Many fathers remember vividly the moment their child arrived into the world. The cry, the warmth, and the release of all of that stress and worry that accompanies their partner’s pregnancy make fatherhood a very stressful and intense period in a man’s life. This has always been the case.

For a very long time men have been seen to take a bit of a backseat when it came to family life. They were the creators, the carriers of sperm, the stuff that made families, but the actual creation of the new life was largely left to the woman.

Even when the baby arrived, gender roles were less than sympathetic to the woman. Women have for centuries been expected to take the lead when it comes to looking after young children. The amount of women who take more than six months for maternity leave is growing every year. The number of women who go back to work on a part-time basis after maternity leave is growing too. Basically, the woman does the childcare bit (traditionally speaking) and the man does the bread-winning, and the procreation aspect.

Even today this has not changed to a great degree. However, with many women facing more time at home due to the worldwide recession, and with women needing to take up the work reins to bring in more cash to the starved family coffers, a new piece of research has arrived that affords men a much larger role in the care of their young.

Recent research has shown that getting involved at an early stage in the care of a child makes father’s into even better fathers. In fact, research has shown that the hormones in the male body are directly affected by the act of becoming involved in childbirth and the care of a young infant in the weeks and months afterwards.

It has actually been found that if a man is in direct contact with a baby and the mother, then the testosterone levels in his body drop dramatically. Testosterone is the growth hormone associated with males, and it regulates a lot of the growth processes that take place in men. The incidence of male pattern baldness, for example, is linked to the presence or otherwise of testosterone.

Also, testosterone is directly linked to the male reproductive system. A lack of it affects other parts of the male ‘system’ too.

There is also a marked increase in the amount of cortisol that is present in the male, when he is around the mother and her child. Cortisol is linked directly to stress. It is spiked in the mother after childbirth because the stress that is released is there to help the mother look after her child. The fact that it is also spiked in the father suggests that childbirth does something to men too.

So the research shows that the male brain is changed by childbirth. This means that there is now a male father brain that is present when the baby is brought into the world.

For many years it has always been a staple source of arguments between the sexes. Men say they are better at it and women say that men just can’t do any of it right. We’re talking about driving, and the age-old complaint that women cannot drive well.

This is not a complaint that many men make these days of course. Most men are more liberated, and inclined to agree that women are as careful and skilled as they are when it comes to negotiating the roads and highways in a vehicle. However, new research suggests that women may be even better than men think at driving.

The female hormone estrogen is causing a lot of fuss, with researchers believing that it is responsible for making women better and safer drivers than men. Tests have shown that increased attention span and a better ability to learn rules are directly related to the hormone, which gives women a clear edge when it comes to driving on the road.

Task that require any kind of mental flexibility are more easily handled than women, partly due to the presence of the hormone in their system. Since many tasks that are encountered while driving require this kind of skill set, women are naturally better at driving.

The study showed that oestrogen increased neuron activity in the frontal lobes of the female brain. This is the area of the brain that is stimulated by tasks that ask for increased attention and rule learning, both areas featuring heavily in driving.

Dr Nick Neave, at the University of Northumbria, advised caution on the issue however. While he agreed there was a female advantage on certain frontal cortal tasks, including driving, he added that there is a need to look carefully at controlled conditions testing, such as that afforded by driving tests.

Whatever the situation and the beliefs of researchers, there is a strong chance that there will soon be public scientific proof that women are better drivers than men.