She was just 16 and all alone when I came to be, so we grew up together, my mama child and me

[primroseburrows]

This is the most optimistic, joy-making, beautiful scientific theory I've ever heard of. And, according to research, It just might turn out to be true. It'd be so awesome if it is. I like to think that my kids will still protect me when I'm 90. *loves*

Babies' Cells Linger, May Protect Mothers

Go and listen. It'll make your day.

Comments

[songdog.livejournal.com]

I heard this on NPR this morning. Very way cool!

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

And oddly touching.

[mark356.livejournal.com]

I thought that the prevailing theory was that childbirth reduced a woman's life expectancy?

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

I've never heard that statistic. In fact, Googling the stat, it seems that this is a myth. One study at the University of Chicago at Santa Cruz finds that " Contrary to highly publicized and widely cited claims, the exceptional human longevity is NOT associated with infertility or childlessness. The high rate of childlessness among long-lived women (previously reported by other authors) is most likely an artifact of data incompleteness, caused by under-reporting of children. Thus, validated human data do not confirm the prediction of the disposable soma theory of aging that longevity comes at a high cost of infertility. "

Other cases and other studies seem to confirm this. The original theory didn't seem to be that childbirth caused one to die younger, but that infertile women live longer, and according to these various studies, it doesn't seem to be true, at any rate.