Give birth to more kids, apparently you’ll live longer

Simon Fraser University in Canada has revealed that, the more children a woman has, the slower she is likely to age.

In what was admittedly a small study of just 75 women, which involved examining their telomere lengths through saliva and cheek smears, it was found that women who had given birth to more surviving children had longer telomeres. Telomeres are the protective tips at the end of each DNA strand which are indicative of cellular ageing and are a good sign of someone’s potential longevity.

The researchers said the findings could be due to increased oestrogen in pregnancy, which acts as an antioxidant, protecting cells against damage.

An earlier study by Thomas Perls of Boston University School of Medicine indicated, however, that women with a natural ability to have children later in life are more likely to live to be 95 or older.

“Of course this does not mean women should wait to have children at older ages in order to improve their own chances of living longer,” Perls said in a press release. “The age at last childbirth can be a rate of ageing indicator. The natural ability to have a child at an older age likely indicates that a woman’s reproductive system is ageing slowly, and therefore so is the rest of her body.”

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