Many Questions about Not Having Children Makes You Young, Lecturer at UM Surabaya Faculty of Medicine Gives This Response

• 12 Feb
• 2023

Instagram @gitasav

Many Questions about Not Having Children Makes You Young, Lecturer at UM Surabaya Faculty of Medicine Gives This Response

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• By Uswah Sahal
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Youtuber Gita Savitri's controversial statement regarding the concept of being childfree or not having children makes you stay young has sparked the attention of academics to provide a response.

Neny Triastuti, a lecturer at the UM Surabaya Faculty of Medicine (FK), who is also a beautician, said that this statement was certainly not true.

According to him, the thought that many children can make women look older, has been refuted by a recent study. Based on research results, the more the number of children, it can actually make women more youthful, because biological aging is increasingly slowing down.

“The study was conducted by researchers from Simon Fraser University, Canada. which involved 75 indigenous Guatemalan women and collected data on the number of children born to the respondents,” said Neny Sunday (12/2/23)

To find a link between the number of children and the rate of biological aging, the researchers analyzed each woman's telomere length. Telomeres are cells found at the end of each DNA strand associated with aging and longevity. To assess the telomere length of the respondents, the researchers took saliva and DNA samples from the inside of the cheeks. Samples were collected at the time of study and 13 years later.

“The study then looked at the direct relationship between telomere length and the number of children, the results showed, that women who gave birth to children will have longer telomeres. The longer the telomeres, the slower the biological aging will be, he said.

Neny explained that this result was explained by two factors. First, mothers receive a large amount of social support from friends and family, this can make the body devote more energy to maintaining and maintaining body tissues, therefore the biological aging process can slow down.

“Second, the hormone estrogen increases significantly during pregnancy. This hormone acts as an antioxidant. Estrogen can protect mother's cells against telomere shortening," Neny added.

Finally, Neny also mentioned that many patients at her clinic, even though they have many children and are not young, look like they are still young and even younger than their age because they routinely use sunscreen and facial treatments.