Having more children may be worth the extra grey hairs. A new study reveals that parenting, especially having multiple children, enhances brain connectivity, particularly in the areas associated with cognitive decline. Both mothers and fathers experienced the benefits, ruling out pregnancy as a possible cause for these brain-boosting benefits.

According to Study Finds, the researchers from Rutgers Health and Yale University examined brain scans of nearly 38,000 adults and found that parenting more children was associated with higher brain connectivity.

The study underscores the importance of engaging in parenting activities, suggesting that the responsibilities and challenges of raising children may stimulate the brain in unique ways. The authors emphasize that these findings could pave the way for new interventions aimed at enhancing cognitive health in older adults. This groundbreaking research highlights how everyday activities, such as parenting, can have profound impacts on brain health and potentially mitigate the risks of cognitive decline.

“The regions that decrease in functional connectivity as individuals age are the regions associated with increased connectivity when individuals have had children,” said senior study author Avram Holmes, associate professor of psychiatry at Rutgers University’s Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, in a statement.

The findings, published in the Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences, found that parents show better brain connectivity than negative typical age-related changes. In a statement by Rutgers, the researchers said this effect seems to strengthen with each additional child. The study focused on three main areas of the brain that involved movement, sensation, and social connection.

Holmes explained that their research found that the higher the number of children, the greater the increase in somatosensory and motor networks. Somatosensory refers to sensory information from the skin and musculoskeletal systems such as touch, pain, and temperature.

The new findings seem to contradict the common assumption that having kids increases stress and strain, contributing to the aging process of the brain. Instead, it appears from the study that the act of parenting enriches and benefits brain health through increased physical activity, social interaction and cognitive stimulation.

“The caregiving environment, rather than pregnancy alone, appears important since we see these effects in both mothers and fathers,” said Holmes. The parents in the study also had higher levels of social connection, more family visits and larger social networks than people without children. For men, having more children was associated with increased grip strength, which predicts overall brain health and independence later in life, says Study Finds.

While the researchers caution that more studies are needed to understand exactly how parenting enhances brain function, they say that the findings could have far-reaching implications for people who do not have traditional parent-child relationships.

“If what we're picking up is a relationship between enhanced social interactions and social support that comes about through having increased numbers of children in your life, then that means that we could tap into those same processes even if individuals don't have a social support network currently,” Holmes said.

Embracing social engagement, whether through parenting, community activities, or maintaining social networks, is essential for a healthy and active brain.