New research is showing that like new mums, new dads brain and hormonal levels also change significantly during pregnancy and the first few months of babies life.
Saxbe, an associate professor, recently had a study published in the journal Cerebral Cortex and found evidence that men develop a sort of “dad brain” after their baby is born, somewhat like how mothers' brains change in response to their newborns.
The symptoms of couvade syndrome include both psychological and physical conditions that may include aches, pains, nausea, bloating, anxiety, depression, and much more. The symptoms often appear during the pregnant partner's first trimester, go away for the second trimester, and reappear in the third trimester.
Majorly, men experience a significant drop in their testosterone levels, and other hormone changes to make them more nurturing and caring for their families. And there is a plus to these hormonal changes – lower levels of testosterone are linked to a reduced risk of prostate cancer and higher cholesterol.
Human dads show a decrease in testosterone immediately after the birth of their babe. The hormone stays low for up to three months. For the dads who actively participate in childcare (good for you!), testosterone concentrations are even lower than their counterparts taking on a less active child care role.
As the father grows older, the number of mutations in the father's genome increases, leading to an increase in the incidence of congenital malformations in offspring [11, 65]. Older paternal age may be harmful to the offspring's health in terms of genetic mutations, telomere length, and epigenetics [66].
Their male partners also experienced small changes in the hormones testosterone and oestradiol. The researchers, as well as the media, speculate that these small changes in hormone levels could lead to men becoming less aggressive, less interested in sex, and more caring.
When pregnancy symptoms such as nausea, weight gain, mood swings and bloating occur in men, the condition is called couvade, or sympathetic pregnancy. Depending on the human culture, couvade can also encompass ritualized behavior by the father during the labor and delivery of his child.
The physical side of a relationship can also change dramatically — thanks to exhaustion, dealing with the physical and emotional impact of the birth, and the demands of life with a newborn. It can take time to feel like having sex again after birth (Brotherson, 2007).
Couvade syndrome, in which men get pregnancy symptoms, remains a medical mystery. But the condition reveals how transformative fatherhood is—and how society misunderstands that.
Couvade syndrome or sympathetic pregnancy happens when a pregnant woman's partner has symptoms that uncannily mimic pregnancy. Actually, it's not uncommon for men to have symptoms like constipation, gas, bloating, irritability, weight gain, and nausea while their partner is expecting.
The expectant fathers showed drops in testosterone and estradiol – a form of estrogen – but no changes in cortisol or progesterone, two hormones that are implicated in stress, say the authors. Past research has suggested that new fathers have lower levels of testosterone, but it wasn't known when the decline begins.
The majority of the fathers (82.4%) felt love for their wife/partner, while a considerable percentage (65.2%) was grateful to their wife/partner. Fathers' feelings about the birth of his child were on positive side as 86.2% were proud of the baby, 90.2% were happy about the baby.
But one of the biggest reasons men cry more after becoming dads has to do with biology: You're losing testosterone and gaining more prolactin, vasopressin, and oxytocin . Those are neuro-transmitter hormones that help moms create milk for breastfeeding, and promote bonding with baby.
Another study, published in the American Journal of Human Biology, found that expectant fathers experience drops in testosterone — the hormone most closely associated with male sex drive. Different couples will go through different experiences. Some might just have a harder time barreling through.
Although you might not always feel sexy during pregnancy, a new study suggests some men may actually be more attracted to pregnant women.
All men inherit a Y chromosome from their father, which means all traits that are only found on the Y chromosome come from dad, not mom. The Supporting Evidence: Y-linked traits follow a clear paternal lineage.
One popular myth is that hair loss in men is passed down from the mother's side of the family while hair loss in women is passed down from the father's side; however, the truth is that the genes for hair loss and hair loss itself are actually passed down from both sides of the family.
Each parent will pass one copy of their eye color gene to their child. In this case, the mom will always pass B and the dad will always pass b. This means all of their kids will be Bb and have brown eyes. Each child will show the mom's dominant trait.
The age where a man is most fertile is between 22 and 25 years. It is suggested to have children before the age of 35. After this age, the male fertility begins to worsen. After 35, the sperm might result in pregnancies where mutations can occur.
Dr. Fisch and his colleagues found that the rate of Down syndrome steadily increased with advancing paternal age for the maternal age group of 35 to 39 years. The greatest increase, however, was seen in the maternal age group of 40 years and older with increasing paternal age.
Age and sperm
Men younger than 40 have a better chance of fathering a child than those older than 40. The quality of the sperm men produce seems to decline as they get older. Most men make millions of new sperm every day, but men older than 40 have fewer healthy sperm than younger men.
Men get 'baby brain'
Having a baby literally changes the structure of a guy's brain. According to reports, it has a direct impact on new fathers in the growth of “grey matter”, especially in the lateral pre-frontal cortex which is involved in memory and decision making.
Dr. Gettler found that while all men in the study experienced normal, age-related dips in testosterone, the 465 men who became dads during that five-year period experienced a more significant drop — an average 34 percent (when measured at night) — than those who remained single or married.