Older women who conceive naturally live longer, study finds

Women who conceive naturally and give birth at an older age live longer, a new study has found.

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Researchers analyzed data for more than 450 women who lived to an atypical long age, and focused on their age at the birth of their last child.

They found that women who had their last child after 33 years of age had twice the odds for survival to an unusually longer age compared with women who had their last child by 29 years.

“This study supports findings from other studies demonstrating a positive association between older maternal age and greater odds for surviving to an unusually old age,” said the researchers.

However, the study does not establish a causal link between having babies later in life and living longer.

“Of course, this does not mean women should wait to have children at older ages in order to improve their own chances of living longer,” study co-author Thomas Perls said.

Natural conception of babies in later life may be tied to gene variations that may be similar to those for longevity, he said.

“The natural ability to have a child at an older age likely indicates that a woman’s reproductive system is aging slowly, and therefore so is the rest of her body.”

For women planning to have kids, low stress is key

High levels of stress may affect fertility and conception, according to a recent study.

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Researchers found that women with high levels of a certain enzyme (alpha-amylase) in their saliva, a so-called “biomarker” of stress, had almost 30% lower odds of getting pregnant than those with low levels of the enzyme.

Also, women with most stress were twice as likely to be infertile as those with less stress. These analyses took into account factors such as smoking, race, education and income.

“While this study certainly does not give a definitive answer regarding causation, it provides further evidence of the independent adverse role that stress might play,” said the researchers.

“Stress reduction modalities, such as yoga, meditation and mindfulness, that have been shown to be helpful in reducing stress in studies of other health outcomes, might be relevant for further consideration,” they added.

The research participants were 400 heterosexual couples. Saliva samples were collected from women at two points in time: when they enrolled in the study, and later when they got their first period post-enrollment. Then their time to pregnancy was calculated using personal journals and fertility monitors. Infertility was defined as failure to get pregnant in 12 months even after following all guidelines from the American Society of Reproductive Medicine.