Well, that’s depressing.
New studies have emerged showing that apparently every birth can cut six months to two years off your life expectancy.
I mean, we know it feels like ten years is being cut off your life when you’re constantly waking up to a crying baby for months. Or we can understand how running around after five children for years might take its toll.
But the birth? What about that youthful new-mamma glow everyone tells you about?
Just your cells ageing and dying. Cool.
The study was carried out by researchers at Northwestern University in Illinois and looked at more than 3,200 women in the Philippines aged 20-22.
The researchers looked for two markers that predict mortality – telomere length and epigenetic age- and both appeared older in women who had had more children.
Study leader, Calen Ryan, said:
“Even after accounting for other factors that affect cellular ageing, the number of pregnancies still came out on top .”
According to the team, these cellular changes could be related to adaptive changes that the mother’s immune system goes through during pregnancy.
Seriously, talk about taking one (year or two) for the team.
A follow-up study is now being carried out to see if the cells still appear older later in life. We’re crossing our fingers that they don’t.
Either way, we guess that age-old question is finally answered (you know the one we’re talking about) – giving birth is definitely worse.
Not that we’d swap it for anything though.
