Women who have twins tend to be healthier and longer-living than average, a study has found. They also appear to be more fertile, with a longer reproductive age and a greater likelihood of giving birth.
Pick just an average passerby and more often than not when the topic of discussion is health, longevity surely finds a mention. The latest study to have pinned down on this factor is rather interesting.
With twice as many dirty nappies and double the number of feeds, it is easy for mothers of twins to envy those who just have one baby to bring up at a time.
But all their hard work could bring an unexpected reward, with a study concluding that women who have twins outlive other mothers.
The findings do not mean having twins is healthy for women, but instead that healthier women have an increased chance of delivering twins, says demographer Ken. R. Smith, senior author of the study.
"Having twins will not make you stronger or healthier, but stronger, healthier women are more likely to have twins naturally," says Shannen Robson, the study's first author.
So rather than directly playing a role in longevity, having twins may be a marker of some yet unknown factor that leads to long life. "It's not that you can go out and have twins in order to live longer," says Smith. "It's more that twinning is a reflection of an innate feature that we can't yet identify that leads to longer life."
Does this matter to women who may not have twins, or to men? Yes, says Smith. If you're interested in whether long life is in your genes, you can look into your family tree for any history of twins. "Twinning may be a part of the longevity recipe that people might want to know," says Smith. Long live twins!
With twice as many dirty nappies and double the number of feeds, it is easy for mothers of twins to envy those who just have one baby to bring up at a time.
But all their hard work could bring an unexpected reward, with a study concluding that women who have twins outlive other mothers.
The findings do not mean having twins is healthy for women, but instead that healthier women have an increased chance of delivering twins, says demographer Ken. R. Smith, senior author of the study.
"Having twins will not make you stronger or healthier, but stronger, healthier women are more likely to have twins naturally," says Shannen Robson, the study's first author.
So rather than directly playing a role in longevity, having twins may be a marker of some yet unknown factor that leads to long life. "It's not that you can go out and have twins in order to live longer," says Smith. "It's more that twinning is a reflection of an innate feature that we can't yet identify that leads to longer life."
Does this matter to women who may not have twins, or to men? Yes, says Smith. If you're interested in whether long life is in your genes, you can look into your family tree for any history of twins. "Twinning may be a part of the longevity recipe that people might want to know," says Smith. Long live twins!
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