Research Discovers That Mothers Who Have Sons Age at a Faster Rate

Recent research has found that parenting a son causes your brain to age faster. Although raising a boy has its benefits, it can also prove to be a difficult challenge. This is not surprising news; however, it is important to be aware of the physical and mental impacts that parenting a son may have.

A survey of 13,000 people aged 50 and over showed that parents with at least one son experienced accelerated cognitive decline compared to those with only daughters. The study revealed that having multiple sons was linked to even faster cognitive aging.

Researchers from the United States and Czechia conducted research and concluded that the reason why boy parents seem to age faster is due to males being less caring than females, resulting in their parents having poorer mental health.

The parents of the boys began the study with the same level of intelligence, but after completing math problems and hearing a list of words read to them, they ended the study with a lower intelligence level than they started with.

Katrin Wolfova, a researcher from Columbia University in New York, reported that parents with at least one son experienced a quicker rate of cognitive decline than those without any sons. According to Wolfova, the results imply that the effects are social rather than biological, as similar patterns were seen in both mothers and fathers.

The researchers argued that daughters may become informal caregivers due to the fact that they tend to provide more emotional and social support than sons, which may be a key factor.

The researchers concluded that having a daughter may offer benefits to health and depression, thereby potentially reducing the risk of dementia.