Science says:
Wait till late to morph into a micro human factory, and you’ll live forever.
Kind of.
A recent study shows that even just waiting to have your last kid until later on could do the trick too. In a study of 551 different families, most of the women who lived to the super old age of 95 had their last child after the age Jesus died. Those who stopped at 29 were twice less likely. (Dude – does that age disparity really make that much of a difference?!)
Even more impressive was that women who bore children after 40 were four times more likely to keep on trucking to the ripe old age of 100 (You hear that mom?! I wasn’t a mistake after all!)
As for the “why” behind this, many credit good genetics. The relationship between aging and fertility, it’s predicted, has to do with the fact that these women are having kids late because they can – which in turn is because they have good biological blueprints which allow them to age slowly and for all the parts of their bodies to live longer – including the old womb organ.
That’s not a bad analysis.
However, I feel like the key thing missed in this study is the whole “generativity versus stagnation” thing. It’s really easy to forget our own part in directing our brains so we can take an active part in our own health. The idea of gen vs. stag is the same concept that drives James Franco on a professional level as an actor and artist who somehow manages to stay pretty young looking despite the hours he keeps: the idea that you’re only as good as your last project. If your job is being a mom, that goes for you too. On a neural-network level, what happens with our brain’s plasticity is that when it gets bored and stuck in routines, it’s subpar as far as survival mode goes. As humans, humdrum rituals aren’t a reason for us to keep on keepin’ on. As an example, those who get closed minded and stuck in their ways are the first to die off from dementia compared to long-living open-minded folk who make innovation, excitement, and adventure a regular thing.
So, popping out a new kid not only changes up the brain chemistry (as another study – with the dads showed), but it kind of jump starts your brain in so doing into a life-change and sends out new physiological messages (“We can’t die now! We have to mold this human from the ground up together, like that weird scene everyone loves with Swayze and Moore!”)
I just think this is fantastic news because if I start lying to myself and saying to my brain “We shall bear a child at age 40!”, then I’ll live until long after I fail to fulfill my promise, live out my final days with Fry and Lila on a space ship, and ultimately face the plot twist of being forced to bear children to continue humanity.
#fivehundredearplan