Pregnancy can speed up ageing – but it isn’t permanent (Picture: Getty)
Pregnancy can speed up ageing in women by as much as two years – but don’t panic, and definitely keep reading.
Because while biological age can increase from early to late pregnancy, over a period of about 20 weeks, researchers at the Yale School of Medicine (YSM) found that after the birth the ageing process reversed.
Sometimes by as much as eight years.
And despite the lack of sleep.
The study, which followed 68 women during and after pregnancy, surprised researchers.
Team leader assistant professor Kieran O’Donnell said: ‘At three months postpartum [after birth], we saw a remarkably large decrease in biological age, by as much as eight years for some individuals, so while pregnancy increases biological age there is a clear (and pronounced) recovery in the postpartum.’
Dr O’Donnell and the team calculated participants’ biological ages using ‘epigenetic clocks’, a biochemical test that estimates age based on changes to DNA.
Ageing reversed by more than it advanced after the birth (Picture: Getty)
The study, published in the journal Cell Metabolism, builds on the findings of previous research that suggested different sources of stress could increase biological age temporarily.
The YSM researchers also noted that participants with a higher pre-pregnancy body-mass index (BMI) showed a higher biological age three months after the birth, suggesting a lower recovery.
However, participants who breast fed after birth saw a sharper decline in biological age than those who did not.
‘Lots to follow up on here,’ said Dr O’Donnell. ‘First, we don’t know if the postpartum recovery effect is relevant for short or long-term maternal health outcomes and if these effects accumulate over successive pregnancies.
‘Likewise, we don’t know if the postpartum decrease in biological age is simply the system recovering to pre-pregnancy biological age or, more provocatively, if pregnancy may have a rejuvenating effect.’