Family life: grandparents who look after their grandchildren live longer

Those who do good feel better themselves – this connection has been known for a long time. An international study has now shown that grandparents who look after their grandchildren live significantly longer. However, there is one caveat.

Grandpa and grandpa are the biggest with you? Read, take your time, help when you need it – and are your grandchildren loving them tenderly? What luck! Not only for you and the children, but also for the grandparents themselves. Because they obviously not only gain in quality of life, but – at least statistically speaking – also in years of life.

500 people between 70 and 103 were interviewed

This is proven by a study in which not only the renowned Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin was involved, but also the University of Basel, the Edith Cowan University, the University of Western Australia, and the Humboldt University in Berlin. The international research team compared grandparents who looked after their grandchildren with grandparents who did not and with older, grandchildren or childless people who looked after other people in their social environment. To do this, they used the survival analyzes of over 500 people between the ages of 70 and 103 years. The surviving participants were interviewed every five years in the so-called Berlin Aging Study between 1990 and 2009.

Important insight: Taking care is good – within limits

The result: Half of the grandparents who looked after their grandchildren lived about ten years after the first interview in 1990. The situation is similar for people who did not have grandchildren but supported their children, for example in the household. Of those who did not volunteer, however, around half died within five years. However, the researchers warn against looking at the matter according to the "a lot helps a lot" principle. If older people take care of themselves and get under stress, then the positive health effect tends to turn into negative. Or, to put it another way: Grandparents who look after their grandchildren – and who make sure that they do not overdo themselves – are best.

This article originally appeared on Eltern.de.