Pregnancy and IQ Levels

Recently I heard a myth that women lose 15 IQ points on average when they are pregnant. Of course, the idea terrified me and as soon as I got home, I went online see if there was any truth to the myth. Unfortunately, I could not find any information on pregnant women and their IQ levels, but I did manage to find some interesting information regarding pregnant women and their children's IQ levels.

The Journal of Pediatrics published in July 2009 that pregnant women who have morning sickness tend to produce children with higher IQs. This was based on a study in Canada, in which children whose mothers had morning sickness had higher IQ test results than children whose mothers did not have morning sickness during pregnancy.

According to the Times Online, a British publication, women who exercise while they are pregnant help increase their child's IQ. Apparently, children score eight points more on average on IQ tests if their mothers exercised thirty minutes a day during their pregnancy. The latest research has shown that the more active and in shape women are during their pregnancy, the easier they can "adapt to their changing shape and weight gain." This goes against advice given to previous generations of mothers, who were encouraged not to exercise.

Other ways to increase a child's IQ is to breastfeed him or her, and to talk to the child in a certain way. For example, children should be encouraged to find the answers to their own questions.

According to Scientific American, pregnant women in environments with lots of air pollution may have children with lower IQs

Researchers from the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health in New York conducted a study involving women living in Harlem and the south Bronx, which has a lot of air pollution.

The women in the study carried air monitors with them while they were pregnant in 2001, and the researchers tested 140 of those women's children when they were five years old. They found that about 59 percent of those children who were exposed to lots of air pollution while in their mother's womb had four to five IQ points below children whose mothers breathed in cleaner air while pregnant.

And, in addition to having a lower IQ if exposed to air pollution while in the womb, children have also been found to be at greater risk for disease, weigh less at birth, and be more likely to have asthma.