Pregnancy Makes You Forgetful: How to Cope With Memory Loss
Memory loss : You’re realizing that he’s having a harder time than usual remembering things, such as where you left your keys or sunglasses. It is a side effect of pregnancy, one of the most common.
Sometimes you forget what you had to buy, the pin code of the ATM or you get confused with your phone number. Of course it’s frustrating, especially if your mind worked like a computer before!
There are various reasons that lead to loss of concentration and memory in pregnancy so much that you feel forgetful, especially in the first and third trimester.
On the one hand there are the hormones in circulation , always them, which cause changes in your body not only externally but also internally. This “brain fog” is annoying, but it will go away quickly after delivery.
Other reasons are energy swings , you know very well how many times during pregnancy you feel very tired and exhausted. The brain needs energy and if this is lacking it too can miss a few shots.
Sleep, or rather lack of good sleep , is another sworn enemy of memory. And, especially in the third trimester , sleeping difficulties in pregnancy are very common (remember that there are special pillows that can help you rest better at night).
In English they call this phenomenon of forgetfulness in pregnancy “pregancy brain” or “baby brain”: if they have gone to the trouble of giving it a name, it is obviously something very common.
How to deal with memory loss
First, accept it . Even if it makes you angry because you used to remember everything, agitation makes it worse. Take a deep breath and calmly refocus your mind.
Write things down . If your head doesn’t want to remember them when you need them, there’s always pen and paper or an application to write things down on your phone. There’s nothing wrong with using them, right?
Take it philosophically and laugh about it . Gather the family and turn this little annoyance into a treasure hunt whenever your cell phone seems to have gotten its legs playing hide and seek with you.
Don’t let them get mad at you for not remembering things. On the one hand you use tools to remember them and on the other you explain that at the moment things go like this: whoever is creating life cannot be a computer!
Kathryn Barlow is an OB/GYN doctor, which is the medical specialty that deals with the care of women's reproductive health, including pregnancy and childbirth.
Obstetricians provide care to women during pregnancy, labor, and delivery, while gynecologists focus on the health of the female reproductive system, including the ovaries, uterus, vagina, and breasts. OB/GYN doctors are trained to provide medical and surgical care for a wide range of conditions related to women's reproductive health.