India, Feb. 28 -- Parenthood is a major milestone. As much joy it brings, the stress, the countless sleepless nights are also intimidating. Caught up in the chase of raising children, many parents feel it wears them down, making them age faster. But a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences actually shed light on the cognitive benefits of caregiving. It protects against the age-related cognitive decline.

Brain scans of almost 38,000 adults from the age group of 40 to 70 from the UK Biobank were thoroughly analysed. The findings were noteworthy, showing a silver lining for all those sleepless nights of parenting.

As per the findings, parents have much stronger brain-wide connections than those who are not careg...