A group of researchers believe that the secret to looking younger is having more children. (We’re not sure the bags under our eyes or the stress balls on our desks would agree but anyway!)
The Express reports that a team of scientists have conducted a study which suggests that having more children appears to slow down the ageing process.
This is because women who have more children were found to have longer telomeres – these apparently help to protect chromosomes and genetic information against damage.
When a woman is pregnant, her oestrogen levels increase which in turn protects cells against the shortening of telomeres.
The link could also stem from the fact that women with more children tend to receive more support from friends and family.
Professor Pablo Nepomnaschy of Simon Fraser University in Canada explained: “Greater support leads to an increase in the amount of metabolic energy that can be allocated to tissue maintenance, thereby slowing down the process of ageing.”
For the study, the team looked at 75 Guatemalan women – the number of children they had and telomere length – over the course of 13 years. The results of the study were published in the PLOS One journal.
