If your children often leave you feeling tired, stressed and worn out we have good news for you: it pays off eventually!

You may worry that you're not getting enough exercise and spending more time looking after your growing family than yourself, but a new study shows that just having children dramatically increases your age expectancy.

Sweden's Karolinska institute studied every Swedish citizen born between 1911 and 1925 from age 60 until their death. They found that those who had kids were expected to live much longer, even after they move out of the house.

At age 60, men in the study who had children could expect to live 2 years longer than men without children. For women at age 60 the gap was smaller, just 1.5 years, but still there.

This good news applied to parents who were married or not, but the benefits seemed more effective in married couples.

Unsurprisingly, researchers say the longer lifespan happens because people's children tend to look after them, giving much needed financial, emotional and medical support to their parents.

Another important new discovery in this story is that the effects are the same whether you have boys or girls. In the past, researchers suggested that daughters were more likely to look after their family members than sons, but this may not be true.

Throughout the years there have been a number of studies about how having children changes your life.

Research shows that parents with children have more money, education and are more religious than people without children. But they aren't noticeably happier, and their lives have more emotional "highs and lows" than people without kids.

Share this news if your children make your life better!