Women Who Have Children After 33 May Actually Live Longer
Well, this is a weird correlation — according to research conducted by Thomas Perls, director of the New England Centenarian Study, women who are able to have kids after the age of 33 on average live longer than those who had their last child before they turned 30.
The study, published in The Journal of The North American Menopause Society, indicated that if women have a child over the age of 33, they actually double their chances of living to age 95, as compared with women who stopped having children after they turned 30.
According to Perls, this drastic difference indicated that the genetic variations that impacted fertility later in life also had an effect on how long a woman would live.
The natural ability to have a child at an older age likely indicates that a woman’s reproductive system is aging slowly, and therefore so is the rest of her body.
While this study's conclusion might seem surprising, don't consider it so set in stone that you're already thinking of delaying that family.
Critics have been quick to point out that sociological data indicates that women who have children later in life tend to be more wealthy and better educated, two factors which are already associated with making healthier lifestyle choices and, thus, longer lifespans.
