It is quite obvious why women live longer..

[Curtis2011]

It is because they have about 1000x as much societal pressure to stay in good shape.


Slight anecdotal example here: I am 21 and in college, and maybe 30% of the guys I know actually work out regularly. Actually I think that is an over-exaggeration, but I want to be on the safe side.

Meanwhile, I'd say about 90% or 95% of the girls I know work out at least several times a week. Almost every girl I know mentions going to the gym, "Oh I'm headed to the rec right now" "I'm about to go running" "I run 3 miles a day" etc. Even girls I know who are not in the best shape still exercise quite often and probably have good cardiovascular health/stamina, even if they cannot get their bodies to lose every pound they want.


So, I think it is obvious why women live longer: In general, they eat less and exercise more, because of the huge social pressure on them to have a more attractive body.

Add up all that extra exercise and all those fewer calories consumed over several decades, and at the end of it, you'd be crazy to expect the average man to not have more health problems than the average woman.

[ginkgo]

I think the difference is the testosterone effect on the mind. Physically it is good for you but they say that people with type 1 personalites get more heart attacks and strokes. Type 1 personalites are aggressive and can have lots of episodes of anger. Now in movies when someone starts to act this way they make a comment about thier testosterone state.

This is also to blame for more males than females committing murder, rape, setting bums on fire and putting kittens in the microwave. The last one was on the news here about a couple of boys doing this for fun. Also they say that in America the major market for self improvement books is women. A good of example of lots of testosterone is one of the greatest boxers ever-- Iron Mike Tyson.

[cdavis]

Originally Posted by ginkgo

This is also to blame for more males than females committing murder, rape, setting bums on fire

whahahaha since when did boys start to light bums on fire?!?! that's horrible!!! lol

[agsags]

The main reason women live longer is that they don't have wives

<ducking>

[goldberg]

Originally Posted by Curtis2011

It is because they have about 1000x as much societal pressure to stay in good shape.


Slight anecdotal example here: I am 21 and in college, and maybe 30% of the guys I know actually work out regularly. Actually I think that is an over-exaggeration, but I want to be on the safe side.

Meanwhile, I'd say about 90% or 95% of the girls I know work out at least several times a week. Almost every girl I know mentions going to the gym, "Oh I'm headed to the rec right now" "I'm about to go running" "I run 3 miles a day" etc. Even girls I know who are not in the best shape still exercise quite often and probably have good cardiovascular health/stamina, even if they cannot get their bodies to lose every pound they want.


So, I think it is obvious why women live longer: In general, they eat less and exercise more, because of the huge social pressure on them to have a more attractive body.

Add up all that extra exercise and all those fewer calories consumed over several decades, and at the end of it, you'd be crazy to expect the average man to not have more health problems than the average woman.

This is just from my personal experience but I have noticed that once women get married they tend to let go of themselves. Not to mention the whole child baring thing which makes it tough to stay in shape.

One of the main factors for men living shorter lives is they take more risks.

[Brutha]

So, I think it is obvious why women live longer: In general, they eat less and exercise more, because of the huge social pressure on them to have a more attractive body.

I would be very wary to conclude from the fact that college age girls in 2010 do something that the same behavior was popular for college aged girls in 1960.

[mikej]

Originally Posted by agsags

The main reason women live longer is that they don't have wives

<ducking>

some do nowadays

[Lifeisamazing]

Originally Posted by agsags

The main reason women live longer is that they don't have wives

<ducking>

True, men don't nag much.

[bonbonbelle]

Originally Posted by Lifeisamazing

True, men don't nag much.

Maybe not, but they're quite capable of pouting and in general behaving like a troublesome extra child :-P Marriage seems to be less desirable for women than men, since it generally increases the woman's workload and decreases the man's.

I think that women live longer because of the protective effects of estrogen and progesterone on the cardiovascular and nervous systems. I've read that men with higher levels of testosterone tend to die earlier of heart attacks, strokes, etc. I guess there are some benefits to being a woman after all!

[Lifeisamazing]

Originally Posted by bonbonbelle

Maybe not, but they're quite capable of pouting and in general behaving like a troublesome extra child :-P Marriage seems to be less desirable for women than men, since it generally increases the woman's workload and decreases the man's.

Well, of course. Men can be very troublesome.

I thought marriage was more desirable for women for whatever reason. You don't hear men wanting to get married too often, do you?

[bonbonbelle]

I guess emotionally it's more desirable for women, for whatever reason. It doesn't really make sense when you take it out and look at it in daylight. Men should be rushing to get married: they get a cook, a maid, a babysitter, and someone to just generally clean up after them. Women should run, run, run!

[Lifeisamazing]

Originally Posted by bonbonbelle

I guess emotionally it's more desirable for women, for whatever reason. It doesn't really make sense when you take it out and look at it in daylight. Men should be rushing to get married: they get a cook, a maid, a babysitter, and someone to just generally clean up after them. Women should run, run, run!

I guess we are generalizing here big time. I want to be the cook, I want to clean part of my apartment, I want to take care of myself. I'm more of a babysitter myself right now, unfortunately.

[bonbonbelle]

Haha, I do tend to generalize, sorry about that. Of course there are individual men who would be more of a help than a burden. But I live in the American South, where those men are few and far between. Most of them sit in their recliners in front of the TV and yell for another beer :/

[cdavis]

Originally Posted by bonbonbelle

I guess emotionally it's more desirable for women, for whatever reason. It doesn't really make sense when you take it out and look at it in daylight. Men should be rushing to get married: they get a cook, a maid, a babysitter, and someone to just generally clean up after them. Women should run, run, run!

lol preach it girl

[Lauxa]

Originally Posted by bonbonbelle

Haha, I do tend to generalize, sorry about that. Of course there are individual men who would be more of a help than a burden. But I live in the American South, where those men are few and far between. Most of them sit in their recliners in front of the TV and yell for another beer :/

Well, mine is a gem -- he's a hard worker, a great dad, and he helps around the house. I don't really know any like what you describe. Yay for men!

[Daffy Duck]

Originally Posted by agsags

The main reason women live longer is that they don't have wives

<ducking>

It's appropriate that you said <ducking>, because that does sound like something I would say.

Bonus rep points for you, funny sir!

Curtis, I like your theory. Have women always lived longer than men? I'm not sure.

[bonbonbelle]

Originally Posted by Lauxa

Well, mine is a gem -- he's a hard worker, a great dad, and he helps around the house. I don't really know any like what you describe. Yay for men!

That's cute You're a lucky lady. I think it has to do with religion down here--the majority of families in my area are strict Roman Catholics, and women are taught to cover their mouths and their casserole dishes. I'm not a big anti-religion person, but it bugs me to see girls who were so bright and vivid in high school looking like 15% of themselves a few years later when they're married and have 4-5 kids (because they're not allowed to use birth control), bowing their heads and meekly accepting whatever their husbands declare to be the law of the house. It's their own choice, of course, but it does seem rather sad. I guess that's why I'm of the opinion that marriage isn't really a beneficial state for most women.

[Elrond]

Originally Posted by Curtis2011

It is because they have about 1000x as much societal pressure to stay in good shape.

Um, okay. I can't say my experience matches yours. There are definitely a lot of guys that want to bulk up, not to mention all that are interested in sports. There are quite a few girls that like sports, too. I can't say how exercises more, 'cause I don't see much of a difference. BTW, how often do you see a woman in the gym lifting or doing strength training, and actually looking like they are getting tired of it? Personally I don't see that that often. Maybe on those elliptical contraptions, but rarely on the weights (or weight-appartuses).

***

An easier explanation is just that there aren't that many women that die in car crashes when they're 20, and similar things. Dying young has a tendency of bringing down the average quite a bit.

Originally Posted by Daffy Duck

Curtis, I like your theory. Have women always lived longer than men? I'm not sure.

I think I read somewhere that the gap was much closer in like the beginning of the 20th century. But I dunno.

Originally Posted by bonbonbelle

Maybe not, but they're quite capable of pouting and in general behaving like a troublesome extra child :-P Marriage seems to be less desirable for women than men, since it generally increases the woman's workload and decreases the man's.

Oh it's gonna be one of those threads, huh.

[LostMyMap]

Originally Posted by agsags

The main reason women live longer is that they don't have wives

<ducking>

The spirit of Rodney Dangerfield live on.

Women live longer because men say things like this and then get killed....

[No Hope]

It wasn't always this way. Way back when society forbid women to exercise. I remember back on my high school cross country team in the mid 70's we let 2 girls join because the school didn't have a separate girls cross country team. I didn't think anything of it at the time. But now when I run the same trails around that high school I see women running all over the place around there, and I'm talking both high school and college. I believe a lot if this exercise craze for women can be attributed to Hanoi Jane Fonda. Her workout tape was revolutionary at the time (1982) for women who were under the impression that many types of exercise were for men only.

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by Elrond

Dying young has a tendency of bringing down the average quite a bit.

I wonder if someone did a comprehensive study of this, and factored out all "young deaths" (ie, deaths before age 50 or something), if there would still be a difference in life expectancy between men and women.

[agsags]

Originally Posted by LostMyMap

The spirit of Rodney Dangerfield live on.

Women live longer because men say things like this and then get killed....

.

On a serious note, I think women live longer because they are build, in some sense, for long-term survival. Monthly cycle gives them stability and internal clock. Higher body fat keeps women warmer and more afloat. XX chromosomes make it less likely for recessive qualities to show up. Apart from child-bearing (which in the past used to be quite dangerous), most female occupation are much safer than men's. On top of all of it, women take less risk than men in everyday life - look at most X-sports.

[votoshka]

Well I'd say back in the day when it wasn't uncommon to die in childbirth women wouldn't have statistically lived longer than men (although I guess there were more dangerous occupations back in those days that would take the lives of young men too... so overall life expectancy was lower across the board).

One thing I will say and that is that on average women are more likely to visit a doctor if they suspect something is wrong with them. More men are likely to dismiss it...and may not get appropriate care until it's too late. (For example a woman gets a lump in her breast she runs to the doctor ASAP, a guy who feels something wrong with his testes might take a wait and see approach cause they REALLY don't want to go to the doctor about it!). This, of course, isn't ALWAYS the case, but it seems to be a trend.

Mind you, I'm a woman and I don't go to the doctor so I really can't talk

[curiouslyrandom]

150 years ago, women in Victorian England were breeding like crazy because they were not permitted birth control. Dying in childbirth was highly likely due to that and a lack of decent medical care. Women's ailments weren't taken seriously--ever wonder where the word hysteria comes from? Hysterectomy, anyone?--because all doctors were men. It's only been since women have been allowed positions of authority that women's health in general has really advanced.

The female body is designed to survive incredible hardship in order to keep the next generation alive. Men may be physically stronger in some ways, but women are stronger in others. It's not a matter of one being superior over the other so much as needing each other to survive.

Female hysteria - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Marth]

Is stress to blame in some situations? Just look at Gary Coleman, the stress from his wife literally consumed and killed him. This is of course mostly Gary's fault, but as men it seems we don't know how to deal with stress. And this current day and age it's easy to be stressed at the smallest things.

I believe in the 60s the death age gap was within 1 year between sexes.

[goldberg]

Originally Posted by agsags

The main reason women live longer is that they don't have wives

<ducking>

Actually men live longer if they get married, women don't get the same boost though.

[Criseyde]

Originally Posted by Curtis2011

I wonder if someone did a comprehensive study of this, and factored out all "young deaths" (ie, deaths before age 50 or something), if there would still be a difference in life expectancy between men and women.

They have. There is. Men die younger than women from all causes.

The two major killers of women until the 20th century were childbirth and infectious disease. (Men died from infectious disease at the same rates as women did.) Now we've eliminated those, so everyone's lifespans have shot up. But there isn't one single BIG killer of men that corresponded to childbirth for women, so it's been harder to increase lifespan for men as much.

One explanation for the disparity between men's and women's life expectancies today is smoking. For a long time, this was viewed as an unladylike thing to do, so mostly men were doing it and reaping the detriments. Once women's lib rolled around, women's rates of smoking went up, but then a massively successful antismoking campaign has gotten smoking rates to go down again across the board. Men still smoke more than women, though. That doesn't explain ALL of it, but it explains some.

Men seem more susceptible to chronic diseases, for a whole host of reasons, biological and social. Apparently the conception ratio between the sexes has been estimated as high as 5:1, with enough male pregnancies self-terminating that the birth ratio is close to 1:1...

(I'm taking a class on aging right now.. )

[SatvikBeri]

There are dozens of factors. I don't know if anyone has done a proper analysis to locate the relative effect of each factor-I don't believe so.

Some examples:
1. As Steve pointed out, stress is worse for life expectancies than smoking. Women tend to manage stress better. It's more okay for a woman to cry, and women tend to have better support networks. In contrast men are less likely to cry or have people help them with their stress.
2. Women tend to engage in less risky/detrimental behavior, such as riding motorcycles or smoking.
3. Women are more likely to visit the doctor than men.

It would be nice if we could get estimates of the effects of each of these factors. Unfortunately most healthy behaviors tend to be correlated.

[Elrond]

Originally Posted by SatvikBeri

Women tend to manage stress better.

Do you have a source?

[curiouslyrandom]

Originally Posted by SatvikBeri

There are dozens of factors. I don't know if anyone has done a proper analysis to locate the relative effect of each factor-I don't believe so.

Some examples:
1. As Steve pointed out, stress is worse for life expectancies than smoking. Women tend to manage stress better. It's more okay for a woman to cry, and women tend to have better support networks. In contrast men are less likely to cry or have people help them with their stress.
2. Women tend to engage in less risky/detrimental behavior, such as riding motorcycles or smoking.
3. Women are more likely to visit the doctor than men.

Those are huge generalizations (which might be inevitable considering the topic). I consider parenting to be risky behavior, but I suppose most people don't see it that way. They probably ought to, though.