365 Days of Twinipedia - Day 85

Day Eighty-five of Twinipedia:

Fact #85

We've known for awhile that scientists believe that mothers of twins live longer.  We had read about this research some time ago in a science journal.  We even shared it on our Facebook fan page.  But the paper we read some time ago didn't really explain why it was that the scientists felt women who have twins live longer. You can imagine that we were psyched then when we got a little more detail about this finding when reading The Week.com 's article titled Strange new facts about twins.

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The article explained that "...a new study...shows that twins 'have more to do with their mother’s sturdy constitution than their father's sexual power.' Looking at the birth records for 59,000 women between 1800 and 1970, researchers found that women who give birth to twins live longer, have healthier kids, and "appear to be healthier" themselves, says lead author Ken R. Smith. That's probably because sturdier women have twins, not because having twins is good for you, the study notes."


So it's the "sturdy" mom's genetics and constitution that makes her more likely to be a woman who has twins as well as a woman who lives a healthier, longer life then it is that carrying her multiple babes for nine months causes her to have some sort of "super-powers or chemical-change" in her that lets her live longer.  Plus she passes those "healthier" genes on to her babies, therefore raising healthier children in the long run then less genetically healthy women.


Although, in the end, some multiples moms may just want to believe another reason for their good health and long life; that after all their hard work during pregnancy, labor and the parenting of their multiples, perhaps a longer life is simply their reward for all those sacrifices endured :):):)  


We think genetics is a bigger reason but why not think that just maybe moms of multiples are getting a little post-twin-chaos "pat on the back".