The next time a family member questions your relationship (and reproductive) status, we have an answer for you. Although women were traditionally expected to tie the knot and produce offspring at a certain age, this notion no longer holds as much clout today, with more women reportedly waiting longer to get married and have kids. Sure, it makes perfect sense that the older you get, the harder it becomes to conceive, but according to a recent study published in the Journal of Public Health, it might be worth your while to hold off.
Researchers from the University of Coimbra in Portugal discovered that women who became mothers at 30 or older lived longer than those who welcomed their first child at 20, analyzing data over the course of nine years among women in 28 European countries. “As the age of pregnancy increases, so does the life expectancy of the women at 65,” the authors wrote. In fact, they go so far as to say “it may be justified to promote pregnancy in the early 30s as a means to extend women’s life span.” While the choice on when to have a kid is ultimately yours, it looks like science is coming up with even more reasons to wait should you find yourself on that end.
