14 DAY TRIAL // Now this is odd! Apparently, the age at which men procreate is tied to how long their offspring will live. A new study has demonstrated that the older the men are when they procreate, the longer their sons and daughters will live.
This has to do with the way the body invests resources in repairing cells and tissues that are damaged by old age. The more men wait, the stronger these mechanisms become, since they have more bodily damage to repair. This may translate into longevity benefits for their offspring.
Northwestern University investigators say that this could be an adaptive strategy that makes sense, evolutionarily speaking. “If your father and grandfather were able to live and reproduce at a later age, this might predict that you yourself live in an environment that is somewhat similar,” they say.
This could mean that that particular environment is less likely to lead to early or accidental deaths, or that it contains fewer prospective mates, or mates who become available at a later age, Science Blog reports.