If the phrase "mom brain" feels like it's hitting a little close to home, there's probably a reason. When you're a mom, your brain literally changes. According to livescience.com, the female brain actually increases in volume after a woman gives birth. Despite the expanded gray matter, living with "mom brain" isn't exactly a positive side effect of motherhood - nor are the personality changes that tend to happen when you have children.
In fact, there are a whole lot of ways you might be losing your personality as you take on nature's most beautiful role.
You used to say "I"
When you're a mom, you've got bigger (or, for these purposes, littler) fish to fry than your needs. That's why phrases like "I want," "I think" and "I feel" tend to disappear faster than your smart phone when left in your child's reach. Aside from thinking less about your personal needs, wants and feelings, when you do talk about yourself, it's usually without that all-important pronoun; instead, it's all about "Mommy needs to use the restroom," "Mommy will make you lunch" and "Mommy's going to take a shower." Somehow, third-person speech has become standard around your household.
You used to go to the gym - a lot
Oh, the days when you could spend hours at a time (OK, an hour at a time) at the gym. And even though you might have hated sweating through your spin class or trudging through your lifting routine, chances are you loved the way exercise made you feel. There's a reason for that; according to Fast Company, exercise is linked to improving, preventing and even curing all kinds of diseases and conditions, from heart disease to Parkinson's.
But aside from what the daily sweat can do for your health and waistline, exercise also gives you some phenomenal mental benefits as well. When you exercise, you're essentially putting your body in a stressful situation. In response, you release a protein called BDNF, which acts as a "reset switch" for your brain, protecting it from the stress. When you're too tired or too busy to work out, you start going far too long between "resets."
You're forgetting things
So you forgot where you put your keys and eventually found them - in the refrigerator. If your memory doesn't seem as sharp as it used to be (to put it mildly), you can put the blame solely on those little apples of your eye. According to HNGN, the spike of hormones mothers experience when they're pregnant and up to six months after the birth of their children changes the way their brains work. So whether you forget something simple, like where you left your jacket, or something more serious, like blowing a deadline at work, that little lapse in memory can really make you feel like a different person.
You used to have hobbies
Remember when you used to run marathons? Attend a book club? Throw clay pots with reckless abandon? If you feel like you're doing nothing for your own amusement, you probably feel like motherhood is taking a chunk of your personality away. And it's no wonder; after staying up with a crying baby, taxiing kids around town, making dinner, cleaning the house, and possibly working a full-time job, what else could you possibly fit into your busy schedule? Huffington Post suggests making a commitment to enjoying a little alone time each week. Whether you spend it getting a black belt in karate or sitting in a coffee shop reading, enjoying a long-lost hobby could make you feel more like yourself again.
You've become a pack rat
You used to live on the edge: you could go to sleep with one roll of toilet paper left in the house and still get a restful eight hours. Now you check and recheck the diaper supply and experience what can only be described as a panic attack when you're low on laundry detergent. So you stock up - warehouse-store, doomsday-prepper style. You get regular deliveries of diapers, wipes and baby wash and you never have fewer than 16 rolls of paper towels in the pantry. Take heart; you may not be as reckless as you used to be, but now you can sleep knowing your children will never want for regular household items.
If you feel like motherhood is taking a toll, getting your personality back might be easier than you think. Being a parent takes its toll on your energy levels, and that in turn keeps you from feeling like yourself. But rather than just boosting your energy once you're already overtired, or boosting your immune system once a cold or flu catches up with you, there are better, gentler supplements now that can increase overall energy while strengthening your immune system generally.
Cell-IQ's Immune-IQ is a natural supplement that has these benefits. Their slogan is "wellness from within," and this type of sustaining supplementation can be a game changer in the way you feel overall.
Whether you're chasing a toddler or getting your sweat on in Zumba class, that natural energy boost can help you feel a bit more like yourself while you're doing it. Visit Cell-IQ to learn more about getting your body and personality back to what it used to be.
