Typically, but not always, women end up living longer than men in most parts of the world.
In present-day United States, men have a 60% higher mortality than women (meaning 60% more men die than women at the same age). Women usually live longer than men by six to eight years. In Russia, women live longer by 10 years but in Bhutan, the difference is only six months.
About two centuries ago, there wasn’t so much difference in life expectancy for men vs. women. It has become bigger now.
There are theories as to why women live longer: Typically, they are less likely to participate in risky behaviors (like alcohol use or smoking).
Women also have a hidden biological aspect that reduces the likeliness of them getting cardiovascular diseases and/or cancer. Interestingly, women report more diseases, but those are less fatal (migraine, arthritis, asthma, etc.). This is because women have stronger immune systems.
Visceral fat is when there is fat around organs and subcutaneous fat is when there is fat under the skin. Men have visceral fat, while women have subcutaneous fat. Visceral fat is a crucial risk factor for the cardiovascular diseases. Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death for men in Australia (related to the fact that they have visceral fat).
Men are also less likely to seek medical help compared to women.
Another explanation includes that men age faster than women. Testosterone makes men have deeper voices and larger bodies. This might contribute to men aging faster.
Before hitting menopause, women are three times less likely to get coronary heart disease than men. But this isn’t true after menopause. This implies that estrogen could be protecting women from coronary heart disease.
During the past few decades, women’s healthcare has significantly improved around the world. Innovations in birth control and access to better clinical care and facilities during pregnancy has tremendously lowered the mortality of women. Breast cancer awareness and vaccines have also increased the likelihood of women surviving and living longer.
Another theory is that because women bear children, breastfeed them and play a major role in raising them, nature makes them stronger and able to withstand these circumstances. This is another possible cause of women living longer when compared to men.
There are many answers to, “Why do women live longer than men?” and it is still being researched and investigated. Also, figuring out exactly what it is that leads to women’s longevity could help people in the future live longer.
Vaageesha Das is a rising 10th grader at Morgantown High School. Today’s information comes from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
pubmed/001018115; https://ourworldindata.org/why-do-women-live-longer-than-men; https://medicalxpress.com/news
/2019-06-women-longer-men.html; https://time.com/5538099/why-do-women-live-longer-than-men/
