Revealed mystery: why women live more than men

The life expectancy of women is 80 years, compared to around 75 years for men. Specialists suggest that it is a “consistent” phenomenon even during catastrophes such as “famine and epidemics.”

“It is a phenomenon that is verified consistently throughout the world, and that is maintained even during famines and epidemics,” says the doctor DENA DUBALProfessor of Neurology at University of California in San Francisco.

LThe reasons for that phenomenon are more complicated to establishand the fact that women live more than men does not necessarily mean that they live better.

Why do women live more than men?

He Health Span or “vital health” of women – the period of life without great medical complications or diseases – is shorter than that of men, he points out Benayoun Béréncieattached teacher of the Leonard Davis Gerontology School of the University of Southern California.

In addition, in old age women are generally more fragile than men and more This is because age itself is a risk factor for these ailments, says Benayoun.

Now scientists are trying to discover why men and women age differentlyhoping to extend both life expectancy and the “vital health” period of both genres.

“When we manage to understand why one genre is more resilient or more vulnerable than the other, we will have new paths and new therapeutic ways to help both sexes to be more resilient,” says Dubal.

Genetics

So far, what science knows about the causes of that “Longevity Gap” Between both sexes is that there is a growing evidence that the pair of XX chromosomes of women’s DNA could have an impact on longevity, although it is not known exactly why.

An investigation led in 2018 by Dubal, for example, studied genetically modified mice with different combinations of sexual chromosomes and reproductive organs.

The most lived were the mice with pairs of XX and ovar chromosomes, followed by mice with XX pairs and testicles. Xy chromosomes mice had less life expectancy.

“Something of the second X chromosome seemed to protect the mice from an early death, even if they had testicles,” says Dubal. “What if that second X chromosome contained something similar to a drop of the youth source?”

Scientists have not yet done that study in humans, but Dubal says that the fact that we have the same hormones and the same sex chromosomes as mice, and similar reproductive systems, suggests that the same could be applied to humans.

Habits and lifestyle

Behavior patterns play a key role in that disparity. Women are less likely than men to smoke or drink in excess. These are behaviors that contribute to mortality, says Kyle Bourassa, psychologist and principal researcher of the Center for the study of aging and human development of the University of Duke.

There are also more women “who have healthy practices and behaviors”, from making an annual health check to always use the safety belt in the car, says Bourassa. And he adds that they are more likely than men to socialize, which protects them from the harmful effects of loneliness and social isolation. A 2023 study revealed that women are also less likely to commit suicide or die of overdose.

External factors

At broader levels, issues such as war or violence with firearms disproportionately more, points out more, he points out Naoko Muramatsu, Professor of Community Health Sciences in the University of Illinois in Chicago.

During the Covid pandemic, the mortality rate among men due to their high chances of having work that exposed them to the virus, which were in a street or in jail, all factors that affect the mortality rate.