It's the miracle of life… you get to a certain age and your biological clock kicks in, your
mom starts calling you and pestering you for grandbabies...
It's the 21st century… are we still victims of the biological need to Fam Up?
babies Inside our brain is the hypothalamus and inside
that is the supra-chiasmatic nucleus, a small grouping of brain cells which make sure our
metabolism, hormones, body temperature, and sleep/wake cycle stay on beat.
Biological clocks are an example of convergent evolution, as plants, fungi, animals and cyanobacteria
all seem to have some kind of clock.
Flowers need to know when to open, close, or release fragrance; deciduous trees need
to know when to pop buds or drop leaves -- and humans have a biological clock telling us
when it’s time to bear our own fruit, so to speak.
When we're not talking about our daily biological clock, usually people mean when are you having
the babies?
But is that a biological clock too?
Or just a social one?
The puberty clock is a mysterious beast.
A June 2015 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Scientists found after
puberty set in, the set of neurons in the mammalian brain which tell the body when to
release sex hormones.
Meaning, scientists have found the switch that tells our sex organs when to make eggs
and sperm… and as time marches on, fertility begins to diminish.
According to a study in Human Reproduction, the late 20s are the strongest biological
clock years for women.
After 27 the chances of becoming pregnant during any one menstrual cycle declines slowly,
and after 35 rates have dropped 40 percent; basically, it's almost twice as difficult
to get pregnant after 35 than at 19.
Which explains that oft-reported late-20s biological tick-tock; the body is saying,
“You’re running out of time!
Do it now!”
But it's not just them ladies, y'all.
Men have a biological clock too.
For most of the history of modern medicine, women have been the focus of infertility,
but in the last two to three decades, the spotlight has been on men too.
As men age, their sperm volume and quality decreases (we've talked about this on DNews
before, as our subscribers know).
And a 2008 study in Nature found of 100,000 men studied, offspring of those over 40 had
a 475 percent increase in autism spectrum disorder, in comparison to those under 30.
One would think, if it was biological, the clock would kick in near the end of your ability
to safely have babies.
And by studying In-vitro fertilization treatments, McGill University found 43 and a half was
the crossover age for males with or without offspring; suggesting the tick-tock was strongest
in the late 30s; and just like with the ladies, your body is yelling at you to get a move
on!
So, since it would seem biological baby fever is real, what about emotional?
According to one 2011 study in Emotion, both men and women experience the "fever."
They explored it from three angles 1.
we are trained by society to have babies; 2.
we have a need to nurture; or 3.
we adapt to babies through our exposure.
Using surveys with (an admittedly) small dataset, neither needing to nurture nor social pressure
explained baby fever as strongly as the adaptational view.
According to their findings, "positive exposure to babies" made people want to have kids,
but "negative exposure," loud infants who cry, or stink, made people shy away.
They conclude people's positive and negative experiences are weighed by their subconscious,
and that flips our biological baby switch.
As expected, baby fever is a combination of subconscious concerns over viable offspring
and positive life experiences for both men and women.
If you’re around babies, you wants one.
As men garner more focus from the scientific community you we can all look forward feeling
the pressure from… wait… hang on…
Interestingly, the researchers from the Emotional study found something else…
after the first kid, women's self-rated baby fever dropped, whereas men's rose.
The researchers guess women’s baby fever was somehow satisfied, and perhaps men wanted
to spread their seed even more after their first success?
As we usually say, more research is needed.
exits
What do you think?
Do you feel the tick tock of the biological clock?
Pressure from Mom?
Dad?
Tell us about it in the comments.
For more on the brain's mysterious biological clock, check out this video Anthony did where
he explores how our biological clock gets alll screwed up (soundup).
ALSO Live Show?