Having kids: good for the heart

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They turn dad’s hair gray. But children can now take partial credit for the health of mom’s heart.

A new Brigham Young University study found that parenthood is associated with lower blood pressure, particularly so among women.

The finding’s appear in the Thursday edition of the journal Annals of Behavioral Medicine.

The study involved close to two-hundred adults who wore portable blood pressure monitors.

The monitors took measurements at random intervals throughout the day – even while participants slept.

For parents overall, the twenty-four-hour blood pressure readings averaged one-sixteen over seventy-one.

Parents scored four-point-five points lower than non-parents in systolic blood pressure and three points lower than non-parents in diastolic blood pressure.

The study’s leader says the size of the difference is statistically significant, but she warns against hastily making major life changes based on this finding alone.

The effect was more pronounced among women, with motherhood corresponding to a twelve-point difference in systolic blood pressure and a seven-point difference in diastolic blood pressure.