Breaking Research: Parenting Keeps Your Brain Young—Especially If You Have Multiple Kids
Saturday, March 1, 2025.
If parenting feels like it’s shaving years off your life, science might have just offered a reassuring counterpoint—raising children may actually keep your brain young.
A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) reveals that parenthood is linked to increased brain-wide connectivity, particularly in areas that typically decline with age (Holmes et al., 2025).
And the effect isn't just limited to mothers—fathers, too, exhibit these neural benefits.
Perhaps even more surprising? The more children you have, the stronger the brain-enhancing effect.
The Science: Parenthood Enhances Neural Connectivity
The research team, led by Dr. Avram Holmes at Rutgers University’s Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, analyzed brain scans from nearly 38,000 adults in the UK Biobank, a large-scale biomedical database. They discovered that:
Parenting is associated with greater brain connectivity, especially in sensorimotor and attention networks—areas that typically weaken with age.
The more children a person had, the stronger the connectivity differences observed in their brains.
These findings applied to both men and women, suggesting that the act of caregiving itself—not just pregnancy—drives these changes.
This suggests that parenting might actively counteract certain aspects of brain aging, preserving cognitive function and neural resilience over time.
“The regions that decrease in functional connectivity as individuals age are the same regions that show increased connectivity in parents,” explains Dr. Holmes (Holmes et al., 2025).
How Parenting Compares to Normal Brain Aging
Aging is typically associated with declining connectivity in brain regions responsible for movement, sensation, and executive function.
The somato/motor network, which controls physical movement and sensation, tends to deteriorate as people grow older.
However, in parents—particularly those with multiple children—this network remained stronger and more functionally active.
This suggests that parenting acts as a form of ongoing cognitive training, helping to sustain neural circuits that might otherwise weaken over time.
More Kids = A More Resilient Brain? The Cumulative Effect
One of the study’s most striking findings was the cumulative effect of parenting:
✔️ Each additional child parented correlated with greater brain connectivity enhancements.
✔️ The longer one engages in active caregiving, the more neural networks strengthen.
This pattern suggests that it’s not just becoming a parent that matters—but the continued mental and physical engagement of parenting over time.
Just as adolescence and aging are recognized as critical periods of brain development, this study suggests that parenthood itself represents another key window of neuroplasticity.
More Than Just Brain Changes: Social & Physical Benefits Too
The cognitive benefits of parenting aren’t limited to brain connectivity—they extend to real-world social and physical health markers as well.
Stronger Social Networks
Parents with multiple children reported:
✔️ Higher levels of social support
✔️ More frequent visits from friends and family
✔️ A greater ability to confide in others
Since social engagement is a major predictor of cognitive health, these findings reinforce the idea that parenthood offers long-term mental resilience.
Improved Physical Health in Fathers
Interestingly, in men, parenting was also linked to:
✔️ Stronger grip strength—a well-known biomarker of longevity and brain health.
✔️ Better physical conditioning, possibly due to higher activity levels associated with parenting.
🔍 Related: Does Emotional Engagement Keep Your Brain Sharp?
Why Does Parenting Strengthen the Brain?
Parenting Is a Full-Body Sensory Experience
Raising children is a physically and cognitively demanding process that engages multiple sensory networks:
✔️ Holding, feeding, and playing with kids activates sensorimotor regions.
✔️ Monitoring children’s behavior sharpens attention and emotional regulation pathways.
✔️ Juggling household responsibilities strengthens executive function and problem-solving abilities.
Parenting Is a Masterclass in Social Cognition
Parents become highly attuned to nonverbal cues, such as:
✔️ Facial expressions
✔️ Tones of voice
✔️ Subtle shifts in behavior
This constant social training reinforces empathy, emotional intelligence, and adaptability, which are crucial for maintaining cognitive function into old age.
Caregiving Strengthens Core Brain Networks
The study found enhanced connectivity in:
✔️ The somatosensory/motor network (movement and touch)
✔️ The default mode network (self-reflection and memory)
✔️ The ventral attention network (processing new information)
These are precisely the networks that weaken with age, suggesting that parenting might act as a buffer against cognitive decline.
Not a Parent? Caregiving Still Provides Cognitive Benefits
Importantly, this research doesn’t suggest that only parents benefit from these brain changes.
Dr. Holmes notes that these effects may extend beyond biological parents to:
✔️ Adoptive parents
✔️ Grandparents raising grandchildren
✔️ Foster parents or other primary caregivers
“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 explains.
Parenting: A Long-Term Investment in Brain Health
For those in the trenches of sleepless nights, never-ending laundry, and toddler meltdowns, this study offers a hopeful reframe:
Parenthood may feel exhausting in the moment, but it’s actually a long-term investment in brain health.
✔️ Parenting strengthens neural networks that typically weaken with age.
✔️ It fosters social resilience, emotional intelligence, and adaptability.
✔️ It might even help delay cognitive decline and enhance longevity.
So, the next time you feel like parenting is aging you, remind yourself—your brain is probably getting younger in the process.
Be Well, Stay Kind, and Godspeed.
REFERENCES:
Holmes, A. J., et al. (2025). Protective role of parenthood on age-related brain function in midlife. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved from https://www.pnas.org
Rutgers University. (2025). How parenthood may help keep your brain young. Rutgers News. Retrieved from https://www.rutgers.edu
StudyFinds. (2025). Being a parent keeps the brain young—especially if you've got multiple kids. Retrieved from https://studyfinds.org
New York Post. (2025). Having kids can fight brain aging—the more children, the better. Retrieved from https://nypost.com
Earth.com. (2025). Parenting may help keep the brain younger. Retrieved from https://www.earth.com