Never mind what you've heard about staying young at heart. A new study has found that taking care of grandchildren is not good for grandparents' health. The study, published this week in The Journals of Gerontology, found that taking care of grandchildren does absolutely nothing in the way of helping people feel more youthful and energetic. "This is the first study to look at the same people before and after taking up grandparental childcare in terms of the effects on subjective age," says co-author Dr. Valeria Bordone.
The findings contradict a 2016 study, also co-authored by Bordone, that claimed spending time with young children had a "rejuvenating effect" on senior citizens. "Contrary to our 2016 findings, our new study found no youthful effect of the transition from not being a caregiver to becoming a grandchild caregiver for either grandfathers or grandmothers," Bordone says.
Does spending time with younger people make you feel younger?