Skip to main content

Pregnancy is a life experience I’d rather avoid. That doesn’t mean I’m selfish

I recently conducted a very scientific study in the pub with some straight male friends. “Have you ever wanted to experience pregnancy?” I asked. The answer was an emphatic “absolutely not”. In the interests of methodological rigorousness, I rephrased my question. “Do you ever feel sad you aren’t able to experience what it’s like to grow a human inside you?” Again, 100% of respondents answered with some variation of, “Hell, no.”

My investigations were prompted by a scientific study published in the journal Human Reproduction. The official title of the study is Parity Associated With Telomere Length Among US Reproductive-Age Women, but a more accurate title would be Yet More Evidence That Pregnancy Is Torture. Not only does pregnancy mess with your hormones, it appears to mess up your DNA; giving birth may add the equivalent of 11 years to a woman’s biological age.

This doesn’t necessarily mean having kids will send you to an early grave, just that giving birth seems to cause your cells to age. The research looked at blood samples from almost 2,000 US women aged from 20-44 and found that those who had given birth had telomeres that were 4.2% shorter than those who hadn’t. Telomeres are like protective caps that cover the ends of our chromosomes; over time they get worn down, and shorter telomeres have been linked to certain physical signs of ageing such as grey hair, along with age-associated health problems, including heart failure.



Source :- theguardian

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Legal Protection for Foreign Direct Investments

  homepage    For solid and consistent in progression of Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) to Nigeria, the nation has throughout the long term set up cordial lawful system for Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) insurance.  In this Foreign Investors' Guidelines for Doing Business in Nigeria Series, we will inspect the lawful systems set up to support an expanding FDIs inflow and guaranteeing unfamiliar financial backers' trust in the country.  here We will examine unfamiliar financial backers' securities going from assurance of arbitral procedures and other debate goal systems in the country.  The reality with present day financial frameworks is that no nation can be an island monetarily; Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) security is extremely vital for the effective achievement of unfamiliar financial backers' business objective(s) and monetary advancement of any economy.   redstateinvesting There are steps that have nations can legitimately take in ...

The Recap: sign up for the best of the Guardian's sport coverage

Let our team of editors be your guide to the best of the Guardian’s award-winning sport coverage from the past week. We’ll email you the stand-out features and interviews, insightful analysis and highlights from the archive, plus films, podcasts, galleries and more – all arriving in your inbox at 12pm every Friday. And we’ll tee you up for the weekend and let you know our live coverage plans so you won’t miss a thing. Source :- theguardian

FIA’s Jean Todt defends Halo F1 system from ‘childish’ Toto Wolff criticism

The president of the FIA, Jean Todt, has issued a robust defence of his organisation’s decision to impose the Halo cockpit protection system on Formula One this season. Todt dismissed criticism from the Mercedes executive director, Toto Wolff, as “childish” and stressed that the FIA would not shy away from making difficult decisions in the interests of safety. The Halo device will make its race debut at the opening round in Melbourne but has attracted criticism on aesthetic grounds and because it is in contradiction of the spirit of an open-cockpit series. Mercedes confidence is an ominous sign after Barcelona F1 testing | Giles Richards Read more Wolff has said he would remove it with a chainsaw if given the opportunity but Todt rejected his stance. “I will not react to whatever has been said. It is simply a childish game,” he said. “It’s very inappropriate, whoever you are, to publicly deny something which is introduced. For me, constructive criticism is always good because it makes ...