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Why Women Live Longer Than Men?!
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Not only is it true that women live longer than men, a recent study that gathered information from a spectrum of countries over historical and modern times showed that they always have. Even though the amount of time that women outlived men varied throughout the study, there was not a time that men outlived women.
Currently, a female born today will outlive her male counterpart by about 5 years. According to a study conducted at Boston University, 85% of people who made it past 100 years of age are women. While some of the facts from the past that women live longer than men may no longer be relevant, it’s important to look at the reasons why this statistic still reigns true today.
1. Females start out stronger in the womb
Even as infants, men outnumber women by two and a half times. Their lungs and brains develop slower than females and if they are premature they are less likely to live to full term.
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2. Men take more chances than women
Death from “unintentional injuries” is third in line for men but it is in sixth place as a cause of a woman’s demise. Men may be more able to take risks because women have been recognized more as caretakers and spend more time overseeing their children and the family in general.
Many men have jobs that have a higher risk factor than women which increases their chances of an earlier death. In general, men, especially younger men, tend to be more aggressive than women, are more apt to get into physical altercations, and are more likely to have access to firearms. Accidents and a tendency towards more violent behavior than women are also factors that add to a female living longer than a male.
3. Men are more likely to suffer from heart disease
Even though women are starting to catch up, men are more likely to die of a heart attack than women. Studies from the British Heart Foundation showed that coronary heart disease, or CHD, was the cause of death for 1.4 million males as opposed to 850,000 females. That comes out to approximately one out of six men and one out of ten women.
Heart disease has always been a leading factor in the mortality of men. While women are starting to catch up in this category, men have still been able to maintain their lead.
4. More men smoke, drink to excess, and have worse eating habits than women
Men tend to deal with stress in their lives differently than women. They tend to hold things in whereas women will talk with their girlfriends and are better able to face their problems and work on a plan to resolve them. With their hesitancy to share any issues in their lives, more men smoke cigarettes, drink more alcohol, and eat more food that is not compatible with a healthy lifestyle. These factors all contribute to heart disease and other conditions that end up costing men their lives faster than women.
Women are more prone to eat healthy, refrain from smoking, and exercise more. Even though many men have weight issues, there seems to be more pressure on women to stay in shape. Women are more open to healthier eating habits where men gravitate more towards red meat, fatty foods, and fewer vegetables in their diets.
5. Testosterone versus estrogen
When men are younger, testosterone has been tagged as the reason men take more risks, have higher libidos, and die in reckless motor vehicle accidents. It has been called “testosterone toxicity.” When men get older, testosterone is responsible for increasing their bad cholesterol and decreasing their good cholesterol levels which raise their chances of suffering from a stroke or a heart attack.
Estrogen has the reverse effect on women and increases their good cholesterol and lowering their bad cholesterol. Besides being an antioxidant, estrogen helps to reduce a woman’s chance of stroke, heart disease and delays the beginning of Alzheimer’s disease.
6. Women pay more attention to their health
Men have been known to be notorious procrastinators when it comes to going to the doctor’s office. Even if something is wrong they will wait until the last minute before seeking help. Women, on the other hand, are more likely to go for regular yearly physicals and face any health issues right from the start.
READ ALSO: Top 6 Cancer Signs Many Women Miss
Because men are not as aware of any problems with their vitals, such as blood pressure, cholesterol levels, or blood glucose numbers, they are more apt to succumb to the diseases these issues cause when not dealt with from the beginning stages. Heart attacks, diabetes, and strokes are more likely to be fatal if left unchecked for too long.
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