Motherhood and the menopause

MOTHERS of young children often feel that the whole business of parent-ing is taking years off their lives, and those who embark upon motherhood in middle age might be forgiven for thinking that this was especially true for them. That is not the case, however, according to a study just published in Nature by Thomas Perls and his colleagues at the Harvard Medical School. By examining the lives of 132 women who were born in 1896, they have come to the conclusion that ladies who have children in their 40s live longer than those whose children are all born before their 40th birthdays.