We all know that stress can be dangerous, but how dangerous can it be for people who aren't even born yet?
New research looked at how a mom's stress during pregnancy can affect a baby's brain development.
Spoiler - it can be worse than you might think.
Stress is quite dangerous
Scientists found that stress events during pregnancy might influence a baby's development through a chemical process called DNA methylation, which adds small molecules to DNA.
This study is one of the largest ever, with over 5,500 people participating in it.
The researchers considered five types of stress that expecting mothers might face: financial stress, problems with their partner, conflicts with family or friends, abuse (like physical or emotional), and the death of someone close.
They found a link between the total stress a mom experienced during pregnancy and changes in the baby's DNA in the umbilical cord blood.
More research needed
This change doesn't alter the DNA sequence but affects how genes are controlled.
What's not clear yet is how these changes affect children once they're born.
The study identified specific DNA changes related to different types of stress.
Now, they want to figure out how these changes work and what they mean for a child's development.
These changes in DNA are like pieces of a big puzzle, and scientists are excited to discover how they affect how babies' brains grow.
