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Fascinatingly, women outlive men regardless of where they live, how much they earn, or a variety of other factors. And it’s not strictly a human phenomenon either; most other mammals follow the same pattern.
“It’s a very robust phenomenon all over the world, totally conserved in sickness, during famines, during epidemics, even during times of starvation,” Dr. Dena Dubal, a professor of neurology at the University of California, San Francisco, told The New York Times.
Still, while we know women live longer than men (as these chaotic photos may strongly imply), the exact reasons behind the gap are not fully understood.
And to be clear, living longer doesn’t necessarily mean living better.
According to Bérénice Benayoun, an associate professor at the U.S.C. Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, women tend to have shorter health spans (the number of years they live in good health) compared to men.
They’re also more physically frail in old age, and after menopause, they become more vulnerable to certain conditions like cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s. That’s partly because age itself is a risk factor, as Dr. Benayoun pointed out.
So, what do we know about the longevity gap between the sexes?
One major factor is genetics.
A growing body of research suggests that the female XX set of chromosomes might have something to do with lifespan, though how exactly remains a bit of a mystery.
In 2018, Dr. Dubal’s lab conducted a study on genetically engineered mice with various combinations of s*x chromosomes and reproductive organs. The mice with two X chromosomes and ovaries lived the longest, followed by those with two Xs and testes. Those with XY chromosomes had the shortest lifespans.
Now, while that study hasn’t been replicated in humans yet, the parallels in hormones, chromosomes, and reproductive systems suggest we might see similar outcomes in people.
Hormones are also part of the puzzle, though they make things trickier.
Some studies show that the female immune system is more robust when it comes to fighting infections, and women are less likely to die from sepsis.
But that advantage fades with menopause, when estrogen levels drop and the immune system weakens. Eventually, women begin to catch up, or even surpass men, in developing certain age-related diseases.
Then there’s lifestyle, and this is where things really start to make sense when you scroll through r/WhyWomenLiveLonger.
After childhood, men experience higher rates of death from external causes like accidents, violence, s*****e, and poisoning. In other words, the “live fast, die young” stereotype isn’t completely unfounded.
On average, women are also less likely to smoke, drink heavily, or gamble. They’re more likely to wear seatbelts, schedule regular doctor checkups, and engage in other health-promoting behaviors that, frankly, don’t get you featured on a subreddit.
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