Does having kids equal a healthy heart? Find out here!
No, not physically, but they sure do make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, don’t they? Being a parent is the greatest joy and equally greatest pain you’ll ever know. As for the theories that being a parent either lengthens or shortens your lifespan, there really is nothing to them–not specifically, anyway. So would it be a safe assumption to say that having kids guarantees a healthy heart?
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How parenting makes life better
Being a parent takes the focus off yourself and ‘forces’ you to concentrate on making life good for someone else. Parenting is investing yourself into the lives of your children–an investment with unspeakable returns.
Likewise, your child will likely go through stages and phases in which you ‘don’t know anything’ or are nothing more than a ride (but be sure to drop them off a block away), they do love you back and want to make you proud of them. They seek and desire your acceptance and validation.
Having this relationship in your life makes you happy and being happy makes you healthier. But healthier doesn’t guarantee longer. Still, how does becoming a parent equate to a healthy heart?
RELATED: Labour of love
How being a parent can make life worse
However, healthy heart or not, it’s not easy being a parent. No, I’m not talking about diaper rash, bedtime battles or even failing Spanish. I’m talking about the stress that comes from parenting a child through an eating disorder, drug or alcohol addiction, teen pregnancy, being the victim of a bully or stalker, being a bully or other harmful behaviours.
These parenting issues (and others) can cause a great deal of stress in your life. Who am I kidding? They suck the life out of you if you let them. And yes, all that stress can have adverse effects on your physical and/or emotional health.
And yes, stress can kill you, but people who are under a lot of stress due to job situations, relationships other than parenting and economic troubles are worse off than those who are dealing with ‘kid related stress’. The reason? No one knows for sure, but the love factor–the fact that you love your children not matter what, somehow makes it all worth it. Happiness is never a bad thing–so in that sense, what good for you is also good for your heart.
If your look at it that way, I’d say yes, parenting does equal a healthy heart–or at least, it’s therapy for the soul.
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Love is all you need–all you need is love!
The only real determining factor
If you want to get technical, the only hard and fast way having children dictates the figures of life expectancy is the fact that there are a small number of women who die each year in childbirth. Each one of these deaths plays a part in figuring the life expectancy of women. So technically…
All you need is love–love is all you need for a healthy heart
The Beatles knew exactly what they were talking about. Love (especially the love between a mother and her child) fills your heart with an indescribable feeling–one that is big enough and strong enough to last a lifetime no matter how long that may be. And if that doesn’t lead to a healthy heart, then what does?