women + brains

A couple of interesting articles about women, brains and sleep, 

unrelated but both make perfect sense to me!

 why women need more sleep, according to new research from Duke University, 

because women tend to use more of their brain (multi-tasking, doing a lot at once and being flexible) we require more sleep. When we don't get enough sleep we suffer more mental and physical consequences then men do. full article here

 what happens to a women's brain when she becomes a mother. A great read on the neurological changes that happen to a women throughout pregnancy and birth. In fact "the maternal feelings of overwhelming love, fierce protectiveness and constant worry begin with reactions in the brain".  Many new mothers feel anxiety and depression, an estimated one in six women suffers from postpartum depression and many develop behaviours like compulsive hand washing or obsessively checking if the baby is breathing. Mapping the maternal brain is key to understanding all the changes that occur during childbirth. Another key factor is oxytocin- which increases as mothers look at their babies, snuggle them or hear their coos and cries. Research has also found that the increase in oxytocin released during breastfeeding may explain why breastfeeding mothers are more sensitive (show greater level of brain response) to the sound of their babies cries then non-breastfeeding mothers in the first month postpartum.