i thought this was an interesting statistic: the gender of your children affects your lifespan, but only if you’re female. (though it has to be taken into account that the study concerned people who lived in scandinavia between the 17th and the 19th centuries)

the women in the survey lived for an average of 23 weeks longer for each daughter they raised but 34 weeks were taken off their average lifespan for each son they raised. what i found interesting was the different conclusions the researchers drew for the affect of the different sexes of children on the mother:

the negative immune effects of carrying sons might help increase mortality.

the beneficial effect of having daughters could be down to their availability to assist in everyday tasks.

so sons are physiologically bad for you but daughters are domestically good for you. i expect my mum would argue with the latter point ;-)