According to a study from Johanes Gutenberg University, becoming a grandparent would be good for mental and physical health while reducing the risk of depression.
The study of more than 14,000 people, a third of whom are grandparents, shows that caring for a child later in life could improve physical and mental health, although this depends on the level of care.
For example, the well-being of women who cared for their young child on a daily basis was lower than that of other study participants, possibly because this would be too much of a burden, the researchers said.
In an interview with the Chron, Professor Reyn van Ewijk points out that “grandchildren can give people a new meaning to their lives, a new role and more social interactions.”
“Any type of activity that grandparents do is probably good for you, from reading a book to walking in the stroller,” he adds.
The grandmothers in the study, who spoke to their grandchildren in person or by phone several times a week, took a memory test.
On average, these women performed better after becoming grandmothers and were about 3% less likely to develop signs of depression.
However, these results were not observed in men.
However, both men and women were 2% less likely to be unable to perform at least one task after becoming grandparents.
Participating grandparents who had little contact with their grandchildren experienced a faster decline in well-being than those who had no contact.
The study was published in the Journal of Social Science and Medicine.