Why do women live longer than men?

[Jara sang]

I was just looking at the C.I.A. world factbook and noticed that at birth the world average of male/female is somewhere around 1.05 male to every female. Then the 65 and older average plummets to somewhere around .85 male to female. Why is this? Is it because men are generally more destructive and don't take care of themselves?

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/fields/2018.html

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. Why do men die before their wives?

Because they want to!


(Hey, it's a really old joke.)

[all.of.me]

17. bad bad bad! lol

[benburch]

2. For revenge? nt

[DS1]

4. To spend our money?

[lateo]

3. Because they sap the life out of us.

[nine30]

5. Heart disease kills more men than women.

I think I read somewhere that the female hormones provide a natural protection from heart disease..not exactly sure what that was.

[Blue Diadem]

12. My Dr. told me that.

but once a woman hits menopause, that protection is gone or lessons..can't remember which he told me.

Edited to add: I also agree with the idea that young men are more apt to die from risky behavior..ie. car accidents etc.

[amazona]

24. heart disease the number one killer of women actually

After menopause, women no longer enjoy this "natural protection," but truth to tell it is only the very unlucky male who dies of heart disease before age 50 (the average age of menopause). WOmen's heart disease is often misdiagnosed, which can put the woman at greater risk, since she doesn't receive preventative care. A slim, exercises-an-hour-a-day relative of mine was wrongly diagnosed with depression. When they finally caught a clue and opened her up, she needed a quadruple bypass because the blockage had progressed so badly. Fortunately, she's fine now, but who knows how many other women just slip away because their symptoms are not treated in time. Heart disease in women can feel like chronic fatigue or flu, and it is too easy for the G.P. to brush it off as a psychiatric ailment since it is presumed that all women are neurotic and depressed about getting older. (Yeah, I'm a little angry that my relative was unnecessarily put at risk because of this stereotype.)

[mtnester]

6. No, it is because women put up with more shit, so they learn EARLY

how to deal with stress, the mother of all killers

:)

[neweurope]

7. Because they're smarter?

More careful maybe because they've got more brains? Can deal with stress better because they have the brains to do something about it? Can take pain better? Don't die as often in car accidents because they are the better drivers?...
:evilgrin:


------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[HereSince1628]

8. Women in the US seek medical care 7 times more often than men

I don't know if that is true through all cultures, but it is an indication that men probably do neglect preventative care.

[NYC2099]

15. Ding Ding!! We have a winner.

Men for whatever stupid reason will do anything to avoid a visit to the doctors. We usually only go when forced to by our wives (or by our mothers).

Me & my brothers have refused to go to the doctors from a tear/scratch across the cornea of an eye, urinating blood, ingrown toenail to the point of it turning purple. Only when brought in by brute force did we succome (sp?) to going to the doctors.

[eyesroll]

9. Some of that probably has to do with young mortality that skews male--

War, drugs, homicide, suicide.

I wonder, though, what the difference in life expectency is, between a man who makes it to 65 and a woman who makes it to 65 -- I bet the difference isn't as big.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

29. Also, SIDS is more common in male babies than female babies.n/t

[yvr girl]

10. There are lots of reasons

Men are more likely to die because of destructive behaviour - driving too fast, fighting, gangs etc. But I would think that would be a bit balanced out because more women are the victims of violence.

Women die less and later because of heart disease, although that trend is changing.

[SmokingJacket]

11. My evolutionary theory...

in early societies, if there were more old women around to help take care of the babies and the women giving birth, that society would survive better than if the old women died off.

But old men were just a drain on the system, once they couldn't hunt for wooly mammoths.

So I think women are just genetically programmed to last a bit longer.

[Mizmoon]

13. Maybe it's because women are generally smaller

smaller people are less likely to get multiple diseases. For example, the more mass you have the more cells you have that can go funky and become cancerous.

Smaller people's hearts don't have to work as hard as bigger people's.

I bet as obesity spreads that women will not live as long as they once did.

Maybe.

[theboss]

14. Because - by and large - they don't live with women

My girlfriend - for all practical purposes - lives with me now. I once thought I'd live forever; I now may be dead before I am 40.

[caty]

16. Women live longer than men

because of PMS (putting up with men's sh*t). That that does not kill us, makes us stronger. :rofl:

[rodeodance]

18. women have the y chromosome--adds diversity--

[Jara sang]

19. Oops, y chromosome actually determines maleness

But I know you knew that. ;-) It is the chromosome that causes the testes to form.

[minerva50]

20. Men are more fragile, as well as more reckless

Even in the womb, more males are miscarried. More boy babies are conceived, but the sexes are about even at birth.

[undeterred]

21. they wear out their bodies with excessive

masturbation :shrug:

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

22. "Only the good die young."

:evilgrin:

[amazona]

23. they drink and smoke less

In the U.S. where the gap is closing in the amount smoked/drunk by women versus men, the life expectancy gap is closing as well.

[AngryAmish]

25. Revenge

[meti57b]

26. all females are needed for propagation of the species, ....

very few males are needed. The males are supposed to be competing with each other to determine who is the most fittest to propagate. That most fit male is supposed to spend his time propagating. The rest of the males are "extra" males.

Those extra males just hang out with each other and get into trouble. That is why we have war ... to keep them busy.

... or so I was told by`one of them many many years ago.

[Just Me]

27. There are more connections between the two sides of their brains,...

,...and they are comfortable crying. Both contribute to a healthier body.

[Cadfael]

28. Do we actually live longer?

Or does it just SEEM longer?

[eridani]

30. After age 85, the % of men starts rising again

All the estrogen bonus points have been used up by then.

[Shoeempress]

31. We don't know nor will we since science doesn't bother to study women.

Most recent example, colonoscopys don't catch early cancer in women. This was just "discovered", cuz no one bothered to do this study on women until now. Not too surprising when one considers this in light of Dr. Hager a gynecologist on the FDA who couldn't "find" his wife's vagina.