18th June 2007

A cause of “new mom brain?”

posted in Don't Know What to Make of This, Working Moms, Mom Rants |

shower.jpgWe’ve all been there - the days of new motherhood where you can’t remember if you’re wearing clean underwear, where you put your car keys, or what you ate last night for dinner.  “New mom brain,” when your memory lapses and when you can’t think rationally, is a common biproduct of the first year few months of motherhood.  When you have new mom brain you can pretty much forget forming coherent sentences or thinking creatively.  The new mom cranium just isn’t up to the task. 

I’ve long wondered why this occurs to almost every new mother I know. And I think I may have found a cause: lack of showering.  Let me explain.

In an article I read about the ways people think of and stimulate their brain for ideas, I came across an interesting quote from a writer, Tammy Tibbetts, at Ladies’ Home Journal.  

According to recent research, warm water running over your body can stimulate the outer layer of your skin releasing molecules that ‘talk’ to your nerve endings… These molecules include beta-endorphins which trigger brain activity.

Hmm… so showering can make you smarter?  It’s all coming together now. As a new mom, I found it very difficult to take the time to shower regularly, let alone sit there and relax while the warm water stimulated my brain.  I don’t know any mom who is able to relax luxuriously in the shower - unless she has full-time help.  (Does this mean rich moms are smarter?)  I’m thinking this makes total sense: lack of showering/ short showers = new mom brain/ absent-mindedness. 

I’m not saying my analysis is scientific, but at least us moms now have a new scapegoat we can point to when we accidentally leave the house with no food, drink or diapers (ok, maybe that was just me) or when we go back to work after maternity leave and can’t form coherent sentences at that important meeting.  We just didn’t have time to shower.

Tags: , ,

add to kirtsy

There are currently 3 responses to “A cause of “new mom brain?””

Make yourself heard.

  1. 1 On June 18th, 2007, *pixie* said:

    Makes sense to me. Even before I had the baby I just didn’t feel right if I didn’t get a shower.

  2. 2 On June 18th, 2007, Amy said:

    I’ll tell you…this was an interesting post and quite frankly, explains a lot. The days of showering every single morning are since long gone. It’s been 20 months now and my memory just isn’t what it used to be. This has been concerning me more lately. I tell everyone that I suffer from “baby brain”. I have lost my keys three times so far this year. I am the most responsible person that I know. This is NOT something that I would have done pre-baby. My mom called me yesterday to let me know she found my missing keys in the console of her car. The console of her car? When and WHY did I put them there??? At least I have my 2nd set created now. I hope I don’t lose both now.

  3. 3 On June 19th, 2007, L.A. Daddy said:

    Yeah, it works. LA Mommy would wait until I came home from work to shower, while she was on maternity leave. While I was on paternity leave, after her, I was lucky to remember to even brush my teeth… it was not pretty.

Leave a Reply