Mother-and-grandmother hypothesis
According to the study, this unique factor is the real key to a long life
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Healthy eating, good sleep, exercise: there are many factors that contribute to a long life. However, one thing has received little attention so far, although according to a new study it is essential: maternal love.
The relationship with our parents has perhaps the greatest influence on our lives. It shapes our character, our behavior and the way we conduct any kind of relationship. But the extent to which our mothers actually influence our life expectancy is not well known until now. A recently published study has devoted itself to precisely this aspect.
“One of the truly mysterious things about humans is that we live extremely long lives compared to so many other mammals,” says study author Matthew Zipple of the College of Arts and Sciences in Ithaca, New York. The study shows in particular that “part of the explanation for our long life span is this other fundamental aspect of our lives, which is the relationship between the mother and her child.”
The longer the mother’s presence, the longer the life
In their models, the researchers consistently found that creatures whose survival depends on the long-term presence of the mother tend to develop longer lives and a slower pace of life. The frequency of reproduction also seems to play a crucial role. Zipple and his team thus recognized that animals live longer and at the same time reproduce less frequently. “The same pattern that we see in humans,” he says. “And the beauty of this model is that it is generally applicable to mammals because we know that these connections also exist in species other than primates, such as hyenas, whales and elephants.”
The mother-and-grandmother hypothesis
The basis of the research is the mother-and-grandmother hypothesis. This is based on observations of human populations in the 18th and 19th centuries and states that offspring are more likely to survive if their mothers and grandmothers are in their lives. A theory that primarily serves to explain menopause in humans, said Zipple, “since the end of reproduction reduces the risk of death and allows older women to concentrate on caring for their grandchildren.”
To expand on this hypothesis, the neurobiologist spent six months observing baboon mothers and their young in the field as part of his doctoral thesis. This field research confirmed the link between motherhood and longevity and underscored the importance and power of maternal care. Based on his study of baboons and other primates, he found that the death of the mother after weaning but before the offspring’s sexual maturation has short-term and long-term, even intergenerational, negative effects on primate offspring and grandchildren.
“The whole world is our mother”
“When you watch the interaction between mothers and babies in non-human primates, you can just see in the babies’ faces that there is nothing more important in the world than the presence of the mother,” says Zipple. There is “a period of time when the whole world is our mother, and although this aspect weakens over time, it never goes away.” A long-term goal could now be to link this aspect to longevity and “to connect these two mysterious and central aspects of being human.”
Source used: news.cornell.edu/stories/2024/06/mothers-care-central-factor-animal-human-longevity