Having kids helps you stay young (and live longer) – and it has actually been proven true

Research says that having kids actually helps you stay younger and live longer.

They might drive you demented, be the reason you never sleep and generally make you feel like you have aged four decades since you had them, but did you know kids are actually living, breathing fountains of youth? It's true. According to a study out of Canada's Simon Fraser University suggests motherhood might be as close as we get to the fountain of youth. I know – we laughed too. However, the Canadian researchers found that the more children a mum has, the longer her telomeres (the protective ends of our DNA). Telomere shortening is linked to aging, so basically, you want your telomeres to stay as long as possible for as long as possible. To conduct the study, the team of researchers looked at 75 women living in rural Guatemala and measured telomere length once and then again 13 years later. And what they found, was that the more surviving kids a mother has, the younger she stays. Here is how professor Pablo Nepomnaschy explained the study in a media release:

"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."

It is believed that community, support and family structure is valuable as well when it comes to staying young and healthy. As the researchers behind the Guatemala study explain:

"Reproduction involves the investment of energetic resources and increased health risks which may lead to lower investment in somatic effort. In humans and other cooperative-breading species, however, pregnancy and offspring rearing may attract higher social support resulting in a net energetic gain, which in turn may slow down the aging process."