10 Things That Happen To Your Body When You Get Pregnant

When it comes to health, wellness, and longevity, diet and exercise get all the credit. But why? Why is possibly one of the most key factors in women’s health always left out? Pregnancy, if ever spoken about at all, is consistently cast in a grim light. According to the media, you should either be actively trying to avoid it or recovering from it. It’s quite literally treated like the plague and to top it off, women in America are faced with an insane societal paradox where we are simultaneously expected to both act like nothing has happened at all by “bouncing back” to our pre-pregnancy body as quickly as possible, while also behaving as if our body has been absolutely ravaged of any and all nutrients, and gained positively nothing in return. This has been the story for decades, and it’s clearly designed to serve the anti-natalist agenda that’s been festering in the American psyche since the sexual revolution of the 1960’s, so, what’s the unbiased truth? We’ve heard enough about the possible downsides of pregnancy and quite frankly, the sorry script is cliché and boring at this point. So let’s flip it. What are the benefits of pregnancy? And how do they stack up against diet and exercise? As a mother of four, I’m tired. Tired of the lies, the gaslighting, the lying, and the intentional fear-mongering that surrounds motherhood, and I’m determined to put a stop to it. It Increases Your Life Expectancy The truth about pregnancy is that not only does it make your life better, it makes it longer too . The average woman can expect her lifespan to increase by 3-4 months per child for up to 14 children. Additionally, a different study found that if a woman has her last child after she turns 33, she’s twice as likely to live to 95 (or older) than a woman who had her last child at 29. And finally, a separate study found that women who gave birth after the age of 40, were four times more likely to live to 100 than their counterparts. But what about exercise? Does it confer a similar benefit to women? Can it be directly linked to centanianism? Not quite. According to a meta-analysis of 13 studies , people who exercise for about 150 minutes per week can increase their life expectancy by .4-6.9 years. In 2022, the average life expectancy for females was 80.2 years, so if we add 7 years (to be generous and potentially remove confounding variables such as smoking and bad diet) we get 87.2 years. Meaning, that if a woman eats well, cares for her body properly, and exercises 150 minutes per week, she can statistically maximize her chances of living to 87 years old. Or, she could have a few children, plus one last child at 33 years old, take care of herself, and statistically maximize her chances of living to 95, potentially even 100. It Reverses Aging Given the fact that pregnancy not only increases your longevity, but reverses your biological age as well, it could be argued that child bearing is actually the long lost fountain of youth. One study found that just three months after giving birth, a woman can expect her biological age to reverse by 3-8 years prior to the age she was when she first got pregnant, with the most dramatic results saved for the mothers who exclusively nursed their babies. This incredible event occurs on the genetic level with DNA methylation patterns. Simply put, all this means is that as you age, so does your DNA. Certain genes get switched on or off and these changes aren’t always beneficial. Once a woman gives birth, bad genes that aging typically turns on , get turned back off , and biological age reverses. In terms of exercise, a 26 week routine can reverse aging on an epigenetic level in the muscles and certain other organ systems within the body, and therefore slow overall aging, but how many years of life are “restored” isn’t known. It Decreases Your Risk of Cancer But what would a long, beautiful life be without your health, right? Don’t worry, your body has thought of that too (almost like it wants you to stick around to care for your children, like you’re essential or something). To decrease your breast cancer risk, one study found that having a baby before 20 reduced a woman’s lifetime risk by 50%. If she gave birth by 25, her risk was reduced by 38%. It was also found that a compounding effect was achieved the more children a woman had and breastfed. However, it was also found that women who gave birth for the first time after 33 were not protected at all. In a study out of the UK, it was found that breastfeeding a baby for more than one year, could reduce a woman’s risk of breast cancer by 26%. Each child reduces cancer risk by 7% and breastfeeding for 12 months decreases breast cancer risk by an additional 4%. So how much does exercise reduce a woman’s breast cancer risk by? Experts say a modest 10-20%, but nowhere close to the protection of nearly 40% that having a baby by 25 will grant you. It Can Nearly Eliminate Your Risk of MS The biological benefits of pregnancy don’t stop with a decreased risk of cancer though. Scientists have found that once a woman has 5 children, her risk of developing MS is essentially eliminated. And yet again, each child has a compounding effect. The study out of Australia found that women who had two or more pregnancies had a quarter of the risk of developing MS than a woman who had never been pregnant before, and women who had five or more pregnancies had one-twentieth the risk. Additionally, it’s been discovered that if a woman has children after an MS diagnosis, the overall risk of the disease advancing to a debilitating state decreases. As for exercise, studies show that it can also decrease a woman’s risk of MS, but by exactly how much is still unknown. It Decreases Your Risk of Other Autoimmune Diseases But wait, there’s more! Pregnancy decreases a woman’s risk of many other autoimmune diseases as well! Not just MS. Studies have found (and again , some with compounding effects per child) that pregnancy may decrease a woman’s lifetime risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, and Scleroderma. Between the years of 1988 and 2012, the rate of autoimmune disease in the US had nearly doubled and some scientists project that this number will only increase by 3-12% annually, with women bearing the brunt of the disease load. As the rate of adolescent autoimmune disease has increased as well (by 300%) within the same time period, the sole answer to this epidemic does not rest squarely on the shoulders of increasing our nation's fertility rate. However, given the statistics among women of child-bearing age, I do believe such an increase would alleviate at least some of the burden. Once again, exercise , as well, decreases a woman’s risk of developing autoimmune disease, though by how much is, yet again, unclear. It Can Cure Menstrual Woes A high percentage of women find that after pregnancy, menstrual issues such as pain all but disappear after their first baby. Scientists suspect this is due to a more relaxed uterus and cervix that can only occur after having been stretched by a little 7lb bundle of joy. Some women even find their hormones become better regulated, resulting in diminished PMS symptoms. Can exercise do this? Yes. But the effects don’t seem to be as drastic for as many women. It Makes Your Heart Healthier So this benefit has more to do with breastfeeding your baby than simply giving birth, but, nursing has been shown to reduce a female's risk of heart disease, dying from cardiovascular disease, coronary artery disease, and type II diabetes. This effect is so profound that even if a woman has only nursed once in her life for at least 5 months, she has decreased her lifetime risk of coronary artery disease by 30%. When it comes to exercise, the benefits it can confer to heart health honestly tie if not outclass nursing except for the fact that you must be currently exercising in order to gain the boon. And this is where nursing wins out, as a woman does not have to be currently nursing in order to keep the benefits breastfeeding provides for life. It Gives You Extra Stem Cells In a process called “ fetomaternal microchimerism ”, during pregnancy, cells from the baby pass to the mother. This includes fetal stem cells, but what are they, and why do they matter? Fetal stem cells are young, energetic cells that can transform into any other type of cell, and notably, they are attracted to damage and disease within the mother’s body. Scientists have observed fetal stem cells become specialized cardiac cells and repair heart tissue after a heart attack. They have watched fetal cells become immune cells to reduce systemic inflammation and even cure breast cancer. They have also noted that these cells are, astonishingly, capable of becoming neurons. Scientists suspect these cells may be a major contributing factor as to why mothers of multiple children have lower rates of disease than their counterparts, as the women with more circulating fetal stem cells, with a greater genetic diversity, have been found to be healthier. Perhaps the most shocking discovery of all though when it comes to this phenomenon is not that pregnancy is literally responsible for curing disease, but that this effect is lifelong and every single baby a mother has ever become home to, no matter for how tragically short a time , is still with her today. Helping her flourish. Supporting, and caring for her. Just as she did and does the same for them. As for exercise, it can create stem cells as well, but obviously not fetal ones. And the stem cells exercise does generate, are more or less local to the system experiencing the stress from the exertion (muscle, heart , bone marrow, and brain ). Though these cells are no doubt beneficial and profound in their own right, they simply don’t compare to freely circulating stem cells, just waiting for the opportunity to give their mom a little extra help, for the rest of her life. It Makes You a Happier Person In a culture focused on instant gratification and individuality, it's easy to see how the mythology that mothers are less happy than their single, childless counterparts came about. But the fact of the matter is, it’s just that, a myth . The truth is, according to the General Social Survey , married mothers tend to be happier than single, childless women and this gap becomes even more evident once a woman reaches 35, regardless of her marital status. At age 55, the divide deepens and the married women with children are by far, the happiest women. This was especially evident during the COVID lockdowns as it was found that parents, not DINKS , were the happiest, citing less loneliness and a more meaningful existence. Exercise is famous for creating happy people. As Elle Woods says in Legally Blonde “Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don't shoot their husbands, they just don't." And she’s right, a Harvard study found that people who exercised regularly decreased their risk of depression by 26%. But the statistics still stand. Good, stable, social relationships are the best predictors of happiness in our society. Married people are, on average, happier than unmarried people, and as seen above, women with children are happier than their childless counterparts. So while exercise is vital for psychological health, so is family. We need to start treating it that way. It Gives You “Mom Brain” Usually used as a derogatory or self-deprecating term, mom brain is in fact real, but it’s a far cry from a curse. It’s a superpower. During pregnancy, a mother’s brain undergoes what’s known as “ synaptic pruning ” where certain connections between certain neurons are severed. Think of it as a sort of spring cleaning. And while this does decrease grey matter , after birth, certain areas of grey matter actually increase. Due to these ongoing changes which usually persist for at least two years post-birth (the growth phase can last for years, the improvements stay for life) mothers find themselves to be more empathetic, better at threat assessment and avoidance, better at picking up on social cues or “vibes” (yes this can be measured), and with an improved object-in-place memory . Ever wonder why your mom was the only one who knew where your clean pair of jeans were? Your father’s keys? The ketchup that no one else could find? It’s because her brain literally evolved after childbirth to give her that ability. So yeah, mom brain is definitely a thing. An incredible, wondrous, positive thing. And while exercise does indeed improve the human brain and cognition, and even encourages synaptic pruning, the specific benefits discussed above are reserved solely for mothers. Given the fact that pregnancy, birth, and breastfeeding provide more benefit to a woman’s longevity and overall health than diet and exercise alone, it is absolutely insane to me that motherhood (and large families) are actively discouraged in the US. Pregnancy really is the ultimate bio-hack for women, yet it’s consistently cast in a negative light. It’s time for that to change.