This is really interesting because last year I read a study that said that moms that had any children after age 40 were on average, very long-lived. It made sense to me because my grandmother had three of her kids over the age of 40 and lived til 97. Also, I can see the relation-if you are fertile into your 40's, you must be quite healthy and in good working order, thus prolonging your lifespan. But the young mom thing? Hmmm...Interesting.

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Yes, two quotes I found on research into being fertile in your 40's may lead to living longer:

"There has been scientific research showing women who have children later can live longer. A team at Finland's University of Turku suggests women who raise a family late in life tend to die later. Scientists believe the findings suggest the rate at which a woman's reproductive system ages is directly linked to the speed with which the rest of her body ages."

"The U researchers also are studying the age at which the women had children to determine whether late fertility is associated with longer lives. Studies in fruit flies had shown that the life span doubled for both males and females that had been grown for many generations from the last laid eggs. In the Utah Population Database, they are testing whether the brothers and sisters of women who had their last child after age 46 have a greater chance of living past age 90."

Stories of Pregnancy & Birth over 44 years old
http://pregnancyover44y.blogspot.com

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Amy, they are not talking about the mother living to a ripe old age. they are referring to that of the child born of a mother before she turns 25. That the child has better odds of living a long life if their mother's pregnancy occurs before her 25th year.Your grandmother may have been born when her mother was younger. amber

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But this article doesn't talk about the longevity of mothers, but of children born to young mothers.

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My guess is the newer, 'fresher' eggs? When a girl is born, her ovaries contain the eggs her body will release during her lifetime. They ripen over time, and perhaps as a woman ages past 25, her eggs are not as 'fresh' and the resulting embryo thus not as 'perfect' and therefore not as longlived? Just throwing this idea in the pool.

In the dark ages - cavemen etc etc all the way up to the 19th Century - women would start bearing babies at a far younger age than they do right now. The average age of the woman bearing her first child would be way before 25 (in some tribes even now, girls still start to bear children shortly after puberty kicks in, sometimes aged 13 or so). Life expectancy due to disease, and a more dangerous way of life (even at the start of this century in this country) was a lot shorter, with 40 being pretty old even in the middle ages.

So perhaps the human female body has evolved to provide the 'best' eggs before age 25, ie the most likely time for procreation. But in this new millenium, our career-oriented lives, matched with advanced medicine (both procedures and drugs) combine to allow women to chose to and have babies a lot later, and allow these children to live a lot longer (what with the absence of sabre tooth tigers, diptheria and the like ;) ). Perhaps evolution just hasn't caught up with us yet, with those 'best' eggs getting a bit past their expiry dates as we get older, and consequently our bodies once we pass the 25yr mark, not producing the fittest offspring that the human body can make.

That's my 2 cents, anyway.

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So to live a long life we need to be born to a mom under 25 and be fertile into our 40's?

Well, I guess I qualify then, since my mom was 23 when I was born and I have been pregnant in my 40's! LOL

My grandmother lived till she was 84, and I believe she was born when her mom was late 20's, or early 30's.

Stories of Pregnancy & Birth over 44 years old
http://pregnancyover44y.blogspot.com

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