Proven Research: A Person’s Cells Age During Pregnancy, But Some May Experience An Unexpected Rejuvenation.

Researchers at Yale University have conducted a novel study that may shed light on the mechanisms underlying cellular aging both during and after pregnancy.

Studies on human DNA and the chemical changes it accumulates over time—a process known as biological aging—have revealed the extreme strain that having a child places on the body’s cells.

It correlates with traumatic experiences such as serious sickness and surgery, adding years of changes to a childbearer’s cells.Fortunately, the effects of such traumatic occurrences may also be temporary and recoverable. Research has indicated that, in contrast to our birthdays, our biological age can halt and even reverse when stressful periods pass.

Those earlier results are enhanced with fascinating detail by a new investigation of blood samples obtained from 119 women at different phases of pregnancy and following delivery. After delivery, there is a “pronounced reversal of biological aging” in it.A genetic fountain of youth was even experienced by a few nursing mothers, who saw their biological age reversed to a time long before they became pregnant.

Although the measurements suggest that bodies have a remarkable capacity to recover from the substantial changes that accompany pregnancy, in order to better control their biological processes, organisms can shut down specific genes using chemicals in response to a variety of external stressors. These so-called epigenetic modifications can be passed on to succeeding generations in addition to staying in place throughout cell division and multiplication.

Epigenetics can act as a biological age gauge, akin to a standard clock for senescence, enabling us to compare the functional states of various individuals. The nuclear material of a cell can be altered by a traumatic life of poor nutrition, fear, or illness, in contrast to a person who experienced a loving and well-fed infancy.

Although a mother’s BMI before becoming pregnant did not influence epigenetic changes, the team discovered that weight gain during pregnancy

The mother’s body experiences a pleasant respite upon the delivery of a newborn, as it reduces biological age by up to three times the amount that age had gained early in the pregnancy. Sleepless nights, sore backs, and countless diaper changes have their own strains.

The epigenetic status of nursing moms after giving birth may even correspond to a much younger biological age than the one determined at the beginning of the pregnancy.