The coldness of a mother or father leaves an emotional trace in the soul of a child for life. It turned out that the indifference of parents also dooms children to early physical aging. What can we do to prolong youth and life for our children?
“Aging Meters”
An amazing discovery was made by scientists at Loma Linda University in California. They found a link between parents’ parenting style and their children’s life expectancy.
How is it measured? Telomeres helped the researchers. These are the terminal sections of chromosomes, which are also responsible for aging. Their function is to protect chromosomes from damage. If telomeres shorten quickly, the defenses weaken, the body becomes more susceptible to disease and ages faster.
More than 200 people took part in the study. The work took place in two stages.
- At the first stage, the participants of the experiment filled out questionnaires in which they described in detail how their parents treated them during the first 15 years of life. They talked about how they communicated with mothers and fathers, trusted them or not. How often did parents hug and kiss them, were physical punishments or insults accepted in the family. Did they feel warmth and love, or were their parents constantly absent.
- In the second phase of the study, scientists took blood from the subjects to determine the length of the telomeres.
The power of mother’s love
What did the experiment show? If the mother was absent from a person’s life or treated him coldly, his telomeres were 25% less than in people who received parental love and acceptance. Researchers believe that the stress experienced in childhood is to blame. The lack of paternal love also affects the length of telomeres, which means that it can also accelerate human aging.
The indifference of parents also affects our health in general. “Unloved” people are more likely to become seriously ill and die earlier. And among other factors that increase the risk of aging early, scientists mention being overweight and having a low level of education.
Of course, what a person did not receive in childhood cannot be made up for, and the past cannot be returned. But is it possible or somehow to compensate for the consequences of the lack of parental love that affect aging? The researchers reported that higher education and weight control can compensate for the influence of the “coldness” of the father and mother – of course, in the context of life expectancy. It turns out that people with higher education have longer telomeres than those who have not received it. Well, the absence of excess weight in general has a positive effect on the state of the body.
Do you want your children to live longer and get sick less? Hug and kiss them more often. Talk, be interested in their views, tastes, opinions. Don’t ignore their feelings. Give them a good education. And then they will certainly serve you a glass of water in old age.