5 Reasons Women Live Longer Than Men
“Men are biologically and sociologically at a disadvantage from the time they’re conceived to the time they die,” says Marianne Legato, MD, professor emerita of clinical medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and founder and director of the Foundation for Gender-Specific Medicine. Here’s why:Females are tougher in utero
Two and a half as many boys are conceived as girls, Dr. Legato says, but they’re so much more likely to succumb to prenatal infection or other issues in the womb that by the time they’re born, the ratio is close to one to one. “They’re also slower to develop physically than girls prenatally, which means they’re more likely to die if they are preemies due to underdeveloped lung or brain development,” Dr. Legato explains.
Women are less likely to be daredevils
Unintentional injuries are the third leading cause of death in men, according to the CDC; for women it’s only the sixth. Again, you can blame it on biology: The frontal lobes of the brain—which deal with responsibility and risk calculation—develop much more slowly in males than females, Dr. Legato says.
The result: Guys often take many more risks (which you probably already realize if your small son has taken one too many spins off his bike handlebars). “Almost inevitably, a male will take risks that a woman of his same age wouldn’t take,” Dr. Legato says.
Women succumb to heart disease later
Heart disease is the leading killer of both men and women, but men are more likely to develop it—and die from it—as early as their 30s and 40s. Women, on the other hand, typically develop heart disease 10 years later than men. They’re protected from it until menopause, since their bodies churn out estrogen, which helps keep arteries strong and flexible, says Dr. Legato.
Women have stronger social networks
Friends make good medicine: People with strong social connections have a 50% lower chance of dying than those with few social ties, according to a 2010 study at Brigham Young University. “Most men tend to hold their stress and worries close to their chest, while women tend to reach out and talk to others,” Dr. Legato explains. The one exception: married men, which also explains why so many studies show that they’re likely to be healthier and live longer.
Women take better care of their health
Men are 24% less likely than women to have visited a doctor within the past year and are 22% more likely to skip out on cholesterol testing, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. In fact more than a quarter (28%) of men don’t have a regular physician and about one in five didn’t have health insurance in 2012, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
You can blame it on the so-called John Wayne syndrome: “Men often deny illness; they minimize symptoms because they don’t want to go to a doctor and find out something is wrong,” Dr. Legato notes.
Comments (12)
In the pass!
I've always use to wonder about this. And with this information. That is a start.
Good information!
For the most part, for the past 400 years or so, the women don't go to war. That's changing of course, but it durn sure left a shortage of males right after WW1 and 2.
This is why
In general, women are able to withstand stressful situations better than men and this may contribute to their longer life span than men.
This article indicates that, along with having stronger social networks, this ability is also grounded in their biology.
Glad you found the information useful.
It's true that wars were mainly fought by men. This ended some of their lives prematurely. One would expect that soon after wars, there may be more women than men as you mentioned.
However, it seems that after some decades, although I have not checked any statistics, the male/female ratio becomes somewhat balanced.
What is the reason for this? Is it that Nature itself seeks to create this balance by increasing the male birth rate?
My audio is not too good so I could not follow all he was saying. However, the presentation of the talking gorilla was great.
Maybe others can comment on it.
Most of the sources that I have read on the subject say women are more likely to visit doctors sooner than men if they feel they have a health problem.
You do not seem to be in that category.
I would like to know what other women think on this matter.
Lately, I've been interested in studying longevity -- partly because I'm a physician but also because I'm getting older. And who doesn't want to unlock the secrets to longer life?
The fact that women live longer than men fascinates me. On average, women live 81 years while men live an average of 76 years.
But as I've been thinking about it and observing behavior differences between men and women, I'm pretty sure I stumbled upon the REAL reason why women live longer -- women travel in packs!
Think about it: Women go to spa appointments together. They meet each other at the hair salon. They never go on a diet alone, but instead do it with a girlfriend. And let's not forget the obvious --- if you're at a party or out to dinner with friends, women go to the bathroom in pairs.
Could you imagine if a guy asked another guy at a restaurant whether he wanted to accompany him to the restroom? Or if one guy "volunteered" to go with another? I'm uneasy just thinking about it. One time as I was about to head to the loo, a male friend said he would "go too." I decided I no longer needed to go. It just seemed weird --- and it must have seemed even weirder because I then went to the restroom when he came back. Of course being guys, neither of us even acknowledged the awkwardness.
Not long ago, I accidently stumbled into a women's restroom. I did not have my glasses on, and from the outside all restrooms look the same if you can't read the gender sign. That's when I realized I had finally uncovered the secret reason for those perennial long lines. To my utter surprise, there was not only a sofa (!) there was also constant chatter. These conversations took place not only at the sinks, but even between the stalls! That would never --- never--happen in a men's bathroom. There's an unwritten rule --- conversation is verboten.
Let's face it -- women talk to other women all the time about everything - - including their health. They have their own sense of community - both online in health blogs and Facebook posts, but also in real life. They discuss with their sisters, their mothers, their best friends what is happening with their bodies, what medicines they take, and how they feel. My mother knows as much about some medicines as Google does. The other day she remarked to me, "Johnny, Rita told me I should switch to the new blood thinner since I won't need blood tests anymore." Sometimes I wonder how does something like that even come up in social conversations.
Men don't do this. We are supposed to be strong. We certainly don't acknowledge any physical ailments. As a result, men don't go the doctor until symptoms reach a point where they can no longer be ignored. And even then, it's usually the wife or girlfriend who brings him in. Here's a test: ask your husband or boyfriend what the doctor said at a recent visit. It will be as if you asked what was said in the confessional!
Guys will ask other guys occasionally to go "work out" together. But there's no substantive conversation going on. And we all know that it really is a competition anyway, to size up the person seeing how much he can bench. No one would dare ask, "How's your prostate doing?"
I always tell patients who are doing well to "keep doing what they're doing." So women, keep building that sense of community, keep conversing with friends and family going, and go ahead and travel in pods. It improves your health.
So men, here's our answer: If we want to live longer, we need to actually talk to each other. Start sharing your health status. Develop your inner pack behavior and you too may be able to expand your life by an entire dog year.
I think that in cases where women outnumber men significantly such as soon after war, as mentioned, polygamy may help to provide more women with a husband.
However, I am not sure if that, in itself, would help to increase the male birth rate towards balancing the male/female ratio in terms of the overall population.
I posed the question re balancing the male/female ratio after war based on your comment re WW1 and WW2.
The focus is mainly on those countries who participated in those wars and who lost some of their males in those wars.
I am aware of some of the practices you mentioned in Asia and Africa but I am not sure how these relate to the countries who participated in WW1 and WW2.