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How having kids DOES affect your health: Children are a 'more potent challenge to the immune system than flu or a stomach bug'
But now, scientists have revealed that raising children can also alters a parent's immune system.
A new study examined the immune systems of 670 people between the ages of two and 86.
Researchers determined that parenting has more of an effect on a person’s immune system than the flu or a stomach bug.
Study co-author Dr Adrian Liston, of VIB and KU Leuven in Belgium, said: ‘That’s at least something for prospective parents to consider – the sleep deprivation, stress, chronic infections and all the other challenges of parenting does more to our body than just give us grey hairs.'
Raising children has more of an effect on a person's immune system than the flu or stomach bug, scientists have revealed. It 'radically rewrites' the immune system - especially if a person is co-parenting, a study said
Researchers set out to understand what drives variation in the immune systems between individuals.
Participants in the study were assessed over the course of three years.
Scientists regularly monitored their immune systems, which showed that the individuals maintained a stable immune landscape over time.
That stability remained even after the immune systems were triggered into action by the flu vaccine or gastroenteritis.
The scientists assessed the effects of a range of factors that altered a person’s immune system, including age, gender, depression, anxiety and obesity.
They found that, after a challenge, the immune system often reverts back to the original ready state – showing the elastic potential of the immune system.
But, the study determined that the most potent factors that altered a person’s immune system is whether they co-parented a child.
Any parents of a nursery- or school-age child can appreciate the effect a child has on your immune system
Dr Adrian Liston, of VIB and KU Leuven
Those who lived together and shared a child had a 50 per cent reduction in the variation between their two immune systems, as compared to the diversity in the wider population.
Dr Liston said: ‘This is the first time anyone has looked at the immune system profiles of two unrelated individuals in a close relationship.
‘Since parenting is one of the most severe environmental challenges anyone willingly puts themselves through, it makes sense that it radically rewrites the immune system.
However, Dr Liston noted that it was a ‘surprise’ to see that having kids was more potent than a bout of gastroenteritis.
He added: ‘I think that any parents of a nursery- or school-age child can appreciate the effect a child has on your immune system.’
The study shows that people have a stable immune system that is robustly maintained, according to Dr Michelle Linterman, who co-led the research at Babraham Institue.
Couples who live and raise children together were found to have immune systems that converge over time. Pictured here, an illustration of how the immune profiles of two individuals become similar after having a child
Dr Linterman said: ‘What is different between individuals is what our individual immune systems look like.
‘We know that only a small part of this is due to genetics.
‘Our study has shown that age is a major influence on what our immune landscapes look like, which is probably one of the reasons why there is a declining response to vaccination and reduced resistance to infection in older persons.’
The study was published in the journal Nature Immunology.
Read more: How having kids DOES affect your health...
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- Having a child 'radically rewrites' a person's immune system, a study found
- Scientists say raising children has greater effect than flu or stomach bug
- And, co-parenting can cause couples' immune systems to converge
- Raising children causes 50% reduced immune variation for couples - study
But now, scientists have revealed that raising children can also alters a parent's immune system.
A new study examined the immune systems of 670 people between the ages of two and 86.
Researchers determined that parenting has more of an effect on a person’s immune system than the flu or a stomach bug.
Study co-author Dr Adrian Liston, of VIB and KU Leuven in Belgium, said: ‘That’s at least something for prospective parents to consider – the sleep deprivation, stress, chronic infections and all the other challenges of parenting does more to our body than just give us grey hairs.'
Raising children has more of an effect on a person's immune system than the flu or stomach bug, scientists have revealed. It 'radically rewrites' the immune system - especially if a person is co-parenting, a study said
Researchers set out to understand what drives variation in the immune systems between individuals.
Participants in the study were assessed over the course of three years.
Scientists regularly monitored their immune systems, which showed that the individuals maintained a stable immune landscape over time.
That stability remained even after the immune systems were triggered into action by the flu vaccine or gastroenteritis.
The scientists assessed the effects of a range of factors that altered a person’s immune system, including age, gender, depression, anxiety and obesity.
They found that, after a challenge, the immune system often reverts back to the original ready state – showing the elastic potential of the immune system.
But, the study determined that the most potent factors that altered a person’s immune system is whether they co-parented a child.
Any parents of a nursery- or school-age child can appreciate the effect a child has on your immune system
Dr Adrian Liston, of VIB and KU Leuven
Those who lived together and shared a child had a 50 per cent reduction in the variation between their two immune systems, as compared to the diversity in the wider population.
Dr Liston said: ‘This is the first time anyone has looked at the immune system profiles of two unrelated individuals in a close relationship.
‘Since parenting is one of the most severe environmental challenges anyone willingly puts themselves through, it makes sense that it radically rewrites the immune system.
However, Dr Liston noted that it was a ‘surprise’ to see that having kids was more potent than a bout of gastroenteritis.
He added: ‘I think that any parents of a nursery- or school-age child can appreciate the effect a child has on your immune system.’
The study shows that people have a stable immune system that is robustly maintained, according to Dr Michelle Linterman, who co-led the research at Babraham Institue.
Couples who live and raise children together were found to have immune systems that converge over time. Pictured here, an illustration of how the immune profiles of two individuals become similar after having a child
Dr Linterman said: ‘What is different between individuals is what our individual immune systems look like.
‘We know that only a small part of this is due to genetics.
‘Our study has shown that age is a major influence on what our immune landscapes look like, which is probably one of the reasons why there is a declining response to vaccination and reduced resistance to infection in older persons.’
The study was published in the journal Nature Immunology.
Read more: How having kids DOES affect your health...
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
