thank you,
Grandma!
by Margaret De Stefano
Which family member increases longevity? According to a study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society, the answer is grandmothers. “Grandmothering was the initial step toward making us who we are,” says study author. Grandmothering helped us to develop a whole array of social capacities that are then the foundation for the evolution of other distinctly human traits, including pair bonding, bigger brains, learning new skills and our tendency for cooperation. Researchers simulated what would happen to the lifespan of a hypothetical primate species if they introduced
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Solstice Green Directory - Spring 2021
menopause and grandmothers as part of the social structure. Without menopause, older women would simply continue to mother children, instead of acting as grandmothers. All children would still be entirely dependent on their mothers for survival, so once older mothers died, many young offspring would likely die too. The theory is by no means definitive, but the new mathematical evidence serves as another crucial piece of support for it. This could help anthropologists better understand human evolution, and should give you another reason to go thank your grandmother!
