Browse: Home / pregnancy / Keep calm you won’t get stuck

Menu

Skip to content
  • About
  • Better Body Chemistry School
  • Book a health conversation
  • Speaking query
  • The “Big” Spoons
  • Donate
Header image

BBC

Small things can make a big difference to your health

advertisement

Menu

Skip to content
  • Home
  • START HERE
  • Free Resources
    • 31 days to Better Body Chemistry
    • Willpower Report
    • Better Body Chemistry for Expecting Moms
    • The ups and downs of insulin resistance
    • Candy Floss Boards
  • Meet the Team
  • Library
  • Lucky dip
  • Better Body Chemistry TV
    • Video gallery for Expecting Moms
    • Video gallery for people with metabolic syndrome
    • Video gallery of how to survive flu season
  • Sound bites
  • Contact

Keep calm you won’t get stuck

Posted by Dr Sandy on in pregnancy | 577 Views | 1 Response

pregnant women do not get stuckPregnancy is an expanding experience.

It can be traumatic to transition from small to BIG, to enormous. Forget aesthetics, being a lot bigger than “normal” – there is always the possibility that you will miscalculate your actual size and attempt to move through an opening that……….just is not big enough !

And end up STUCK.

It’s not going to happen

Good news…. despite the fact that your body size is changing “every day”, your brain keeps abreast of the situation.

You will never get stuck.

Your brain has you covered. Your brain KNOWS how big you are and can do the necessary calculations.

This is the finding of a group of researchers from New York University, who explored how tuned in pregnant women are, to their body size.

Big, bigger bodies

The researchers enlisted the help of 11 pregnant ladies. The women were asked to squeeze through a series of doorways, at different points during their pregnancy.  The team discovered – as their bellies increased in size, so did their judgements of what doorways posed a problem.

The technical term for this ability to match body size with environment, is affordance.

Affordance is something we all need. Your motor abilities, body size and morphology change throughout your life, but most of these changes happen so slowly, the adapting is barely noticeable. In the case of pregnancy, things are changing rather quickly.

So how does your brain do it ?

Affordance is learned

The team discovered the brain has to learn it. Day to day experiences, are required to facilitate the perceptual–motor recalibration, that ensures you fit into your environment.

When the team waved a magic wand and turned ordinary women, into women who were 9 months pregnant (they used a little Hollywood trickery), they found these women had no idea which doorways were a go and which were a no go.

But after a little practice – they got the hang of it.

Your body size is covered

Your brain is incredible, it knows where you are and whether you will fit. So no need to worry…

Keep Calm you won’t get stuck.

Of course……… if you think you won’t fit, don’t disregard the information, your brain probably knows best.

Share Button
Gut estimates: Pregnant women adapt to changing possibilities for squeezing through doorways. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics (2013) John M. Franchak, Karen E. Adolph.

Further reading

lady measuring pelvis width over the years Giant golf hole ensures you sink the putt the dinner race
You are getting wider even if you’re not getting fatter  What you think you see is what you get  To fit in your clothes, forgo FITTING IN at the dinner table 
Share Button

Better body chemistry for expectant moms

If you are an expectant Mom or know someone that is – invite them to participate, so they can create Better Body Chemistry during their pregnancy and raise a HAPPY HEALTHY little one.

Expecting ?
* indicates required

Close

Posted in pregnancy | Tagged affordance, body size, brain, stuck
 

better body chemistry for expectant moms

Gives you the inside scoop….

Tips and strategies, based on the latest science, to help you give your baby the best start possible. Learn more...

Click to enrol in our free e-course.

Connect with facebook Make sure you give the app permission on the next page

Connect with us

facebook you tube pinterest 40 google plus 40 Linkedin

  • Popular
  • Featured
  • Recent
  • oatmeal breakfast being beaten by egg

    Which is a better breakfast, egg or oatmeal ?

    16629 views / Posted
  • chewing gum relieving postoperative ileus

    A stick of chewing gum gets the gut going after surgery

    16034 views / Posted
  • poop getting stuck

    The fix for constipation is to go on a low fibre diet

    15478 views / Posted
  • carbonated water bubbles fill you up

    Fizzing up the water flattens your appetite

    14101 views / Posted
  • a see food diet

    It might be time to try the TRF see food diet – it works

    11451 views / Posted
  • sun extracting cholesterol

    Make sure you have your “annual” check-up in the summer time

    / Dr Sandy
  • sending your kid to bootcamp won't stop childhood obesity

    Moving more won’t stop your kid from getting fat

    / Dr Sandy
  • cholesterol at the scene of the accident

    Bone cells are stiffening up your arteries not cholesterol

    / Dr Sandy
  • brain size the problem in ADHD

    Are kids with ADHD just acting according to their brain age

    / Dr Sandy
  • plastering the blood vessel with calcium

    Calcium supplements are building bones and breaking hearts

    / Dr Sandy
  • vitamin D conservation plan

    Deploy a vitamin D conservation plan this winter

    / Dr Sandy
  • killer cookies

    How to avoid wearing edible Christmas gifts on your hips

    / Dr Sandy
  • eye putttin gpressure on the stomach

    Maybe it’s time to invest in appetite suppressing glasses

    / Dr Sandy
  • pgc1alpha

    Mitochondria in insulin resistance

    / Dr Sandy
  • a low fat diet spiking blood fat levels

    The more saturated fat you eat, the lower your blood fat levels

    / Dr Sandy

RSS Recent posts

Dr Sandy Dr Sandy Evans, PhD

Located in Johannesburg, South Africa

Book an appointment with Spoonful of Science using SetMore
Disclaimer : The stories and articles are provided as a service. Dr Sandy's opinions are for information only, and are not intended to diagnose or prescribe. For your specific diagnosis and treatment, consult your doctor or health care provider.
 
 

Connect with Dr Sandy

facebook 40
you tube 40
pinterest 40
google plus 40
linkedin 40
meetup 40
 

Categories

Featured posts

  • oatmeal breakfast being beaten by egg

    Which is a better breakfast, egg or oatmeal ?

    16629 views / Posted
  • chewing gum relieving postoperative ileus

    A stick of chewing gum gets the gut going after surgery

    16034 views / Posted
  • poop getting stuck

    The fix for constipation is to go on a low fibre diet

    15478 views / Posted
 

©2011-2019 Spoonful of Science

Menu

  • Meet Dr Sandy
  • Disclosure/disclaimer
  • Privacy policy
  • Comment policy
  • Contact
Redirect Stakk
Thank You

Beat your SUGAR CRAVINGS, using biology, NOT psychology

Download our FREE REPORT entitled, "How to get the Willpower you Need to Trump Sugar's Power"

  • Do you have a sugar gremlin ?
  • Discover the biology behind sugar gremlins
  • Learn about the 10 weapons you can use to TAME YOUR SUGAR GREMLIN

Get instant access