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Spring 2019
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o h, the joys of
pregnancy
. the exhaustion, the weight gain, the queasy tummy and frequent trips to the bathroom? and that?s just daddy-to-be. everyone knows hormones are involved in a woman?s pregnancy. they get the pregnancy going, keep the pregnancy interesting, and bring on the labor. hormones get blamed for sleepless nights, ice cream and pickle cravings, and tears at someone not landing a deal on shark tank . but did you know that men
experience similar ups and downs of their hormone levels
when involved in a pregnancy? the medical term for when a man suffers symptoms related to pregnancy is called the couvade syndrome. couvade comes from the french word couvee , meaning ?to hatch.? today, it has come to mean a man is having a ?sympathetic pregnancy.? many people thought that a man?s symptoms were all in his head, a reaction to the stress of impending fatherhood or a bid for sympathy. not so, say researchers. approximately 90 percent of men experience at least one pregnancy-related symptom. endocrinologist katherine wynne- edwards and her colleagues recruited 33 couples from childbirth classes to participate in her observations of daddy hormones. the participants were tested for several weeks prior to and after the birth of their babies. hormone levels were charted using saliva swabs. the study observed the rising and falling of hormones in men during their partner?s pregnancy. the hormones the study covered include testosterone, estrogen, prolactin, and cortisol. testosterone is no stranger to most men and women. it is blamed for many unexplained actions of men. testosterone is blamed for fights over football, joyriding, and teenagers doing wild stunts. linked with competitiveness, testosterone levels rise in males in response to winning. its production changes in response to behaviors that most men experience such as intercourse, sports, and work successes. this hormone is crucial to winning the mating game and gets the procreation started. once the baby is born, however, the testosterone levels in men drop. psychologist anne storey found a 33 percent drop in testosterone in men during the first three weeks of the baby?s life. the levels returned to normal by the time the infant was between four and seven weeks old. this change or dip in levels is thought to promote bonding by setting in motion the more cooperative, less competitive enterprise of parenting. the next hormone, estrogen, was studied by wynne-edwards and graduate student sandra berg. they found that estrogen increased 30 days before birth and continued for the whole 12 weeks of testing after the birth. while men do have low levels of estrogen naturally, higher levels of estrogen can induce more nurturing behavior in males. the third hormone is prolactin, which gets its name from the role it plays in producing lactation in women. prolactin is the hormone we produce when we fall in love. it also instigates parental behavior in animals. researchers storey and wynne-edwards found that prolactin rose by approximately 20 percent in men during the three weeks after their partner gave birth. prolactin levels in men who experience pregnancy symptoms were significantly higher as well. the final hormone is cortisol, the so-called ?fight or flight? hormone. cortisol levels increase in women during pregnancy. in fact, a cumulative rise in stress hormone levels sets off labor and delivery. mothers with high levels of cortisol can detect their baby by scent more easily. they also respond more sympathetically to their infants? cries and describe their relationship with their infants more positively, too. could the sights, sounds, and smells of a newborn affect hormones? during one part of the study, researchers had couples hold a doll that had been wrapped in a receiving blanket used by a newborn. they listened to a tape of a real newborn crying and then watched a video of a newborn struggling to breastfeed. the investigators took blood from the men and women before and after the test and discovered that men who expressed the greatest desire to comfort a crying baby had the highest prolactin levels and the greatest reduction in testosterone. a man?s hormones play a role in helping him experience the full range of emotions with regard to becoming a new father. the good news is that when daddy- to-be is complaining about mood swings or feeling nauseous, it may be a sign that his hormone levels are encouraging him to be a good, committed father. pass him the ice cream and pickles, please! ? daddy hormones turning men into fa?ers 1 8 p i n k ? b l u e | s p r i n g 2 0 1 9
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