New, just published research has suggested that a man’s brain cortex shifts in “size and shape” when he becomes a dad. The cortex is responsible for high-level functioning such as reasoning and emotions. The result of these changes, scientists believe, is better empathy. Professor Darby Saxbe of the University of Southern California, who studies brain plasticity, stated that becoming a father “requires new skills like being able to empathise with a nonverbal infant, so it makes sense.”
Fathers are more than just sperm donors. They have a connection with their children beyond contributing DNA. In fact, that whole myth is losing credibility in the face of scientific and medical evidence. For instance, we know now that fathers bond physically and emotionally with their children in a way that complements a mother’s bond. That’s why skin-to-skin contact with dad is now a common practice in delivery rooms. And the connections don’t end there.
Recent discoveries have suggested that dedicated fathers, like dedicated mothers, undergo dramatic hormonal and neurological shifts upon the arrival of a baby. Some experts now even think that those shifts and the father-child bond that creates them begin even before birth.
Writing in The Atlantic, Ariel Ramchandani described a bizarre condition that sometimes afflicts expectant fathers. What’s known as couvade syndrome is a poorly understood set of symptoms in which a man experiences physical changes that mirror those of his pregnant partner. Things like weight gain, vomiting, aches and pains — even cravings. Understandably, dads who go through such things are often embarrassed to talk about it. It sounds like one of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s worst movies, “Junior.”
Until recently, the go-to explanation was that couvade syndrome is psychosomatic. In other words, “It’s all in your head.” But Ramchandani marshaled evidence that something physical could be at work when men are experiencing so-called pregnancy symptoms. The key is probably hormones triggered by living with a pregnant partner and caring for a child. “Becoming a dad is associated with declines in men’s levels of testosterone,” she wrote, “and those declines are linked with greater paternal investment. Hormonal changes could explain fathers’ weight gain as well as their pre- and postnatal depression.”