Why giving birth at a late age extends life
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Actually, this conclusion was reached by scientists from Boston University, USA, who did a genetic analysis of 462 long-lived women and linked their age with the birth of their children.
Researchers have found that the aging process in women is directly interrelated with the length of the fertile period, which is determined by genetic characteristics.
According to the study, women who gave birth to their first child at the age of 33 lived to a ripe old age 2 times more often than those who gave birth before the age of 30.
However, scientists note that this does not mean that women should postpone motherhood. But the ability to conceive at a late age speaks of a woman’s better health and that her organism ages more slowly.
Modern science suggests that continued fertility – that is, the ability to conceive and give birth to healthy offspring – is genetically determined.
According to evidence-based medicine, late pregnancy is accompanied by numerous complications.
In addition, the risks of giving birth to a child with congenital diseases and developmental abnormalities are seriously increased.
If for women younger than 30 the risk of miscarriage is 10%, for those aged 30-39 it rises to 17%, and for those over 40 it rises to 33%.
The probability of spontaneous termination of pregnancy is related not only to the age-related changes of the entire female organism, but also to the aging of the eggs themselves, which is why it is possible to conceive a fetus with serious genetic disorders.
However, even 50-year-old women have a real chance of giving birth to a healthy child, with this probability being 90%.
And the chances of giving birth to a full-term child for them are almost the same as for young women, this is shown by the results of prenatal tests.
It should be noted that since the end of the 70s of the 20th century, there has been a rapid increase in the number of women giving birth near the age of 40 and even over 40.
For a quarter of a century, the number of women giving birth among women aged 35-39 has increased by 90%, and the number of young mothers aged 40 and over has also increased by almost as much.
In this regard, it should be noted that American scientists were able to determine when the aging process of the body begins.
They are convinced that this does not depend on gender, physique, nationality and many other factors.
It turned out that this aging process directly depends on the formation of myelin – this is a compound that covers nerve cells and protects them from harmful influences.
At the beginning of the 40s, the amount of myelin produced decreases, which negatively affects the function of the brain and heart activity.
Locomotor function is also impaired, even the elasticity of the muscles decreases. Because of the excessive damage to the myelin sheath of neurons, multiple sclerosis develops.
Californian scientists believe that this process, at least at the moment, is irreversible.
All attempts to keep the body in shape and constant training of the mind only help to improve the state of health, but do not achieve a prolongation of life.
However, the scientific community still does not have a unified opinion on this issue.