I don’t know what to think about this.
If there’s one common complaint that most of us parents have it’s exhaustion. It doesn’t matter what age our kids are we’re not getting much rest.
Whether they’re teething babies waking up every couple of hours or we’re staying up worrying about our teens who have gone on their first night out there’s no rest for the parental folks.
That’s why when I came across this study I was a little skeptical.
A study conducted by Simon Fraser University suggests that the more children a woman has the less she ages.
The research led by health sciences professor Pablo Nepomnaschy and postdoctoral researcher Cindy Barha found that women who gave birth to several children exhibited longer telomeres.
So what’s a telomere when it’s at home?
According to Science Daily telomeres are the protective tips found at the end of each DNA strand and are indicative of cellular aging.
So if our telomeres are lengthened each time we have a child, by extension that means that it will take longer for our cells to age.
75 women from two neighbouring indigenous rural Guatemalan communities took part in the study that monitored them over the course of 13 years.
The conclusion of the study was that contrary to popular belief having more children does no accelerate aging it actually reduces it.
Speaking on their research Nepomnaschy said;
“The slower pace of telomere shortening found in the study participants who have more children however, may be attributed to the dramatic increase in estrogen, a hormone produced during pregnancy.”
Not too long ago I wrote an article about how I was finished having children after having my two, so has these findings changed my mind on all that?
Nope. As interesting as these findings are I think I’ll stick with my Banana Skin moisturiser to keep me looking younger.
