Why do women live longer than men?

[Gigibagigi]

I am not sure this is an appropriate forum to post this question, however, I believe this is an intriguing question and may be worth a thought.

Looking at data on the web, all over the world, virtually in every single country the average expectancy of life of women is about 5 years longer of that of men.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_expectancy

Simple put, women tend to live longer.

Of the ten oldest people currently living, 9 are women.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_living_supercentenarians

Of the oldest supercentenarians (>110 years old) ever lived, the vast majority are women.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercentenarian

The oldest man to have lived on Earth died at 115.

The olderst woman to have lived on Earth died at 122.

In the past, many physicians tended to agree that the difference in life-expectancy was due to healtier living habits of women (less smoking, less drugs, less deaths by violence, less stress at work, and so on..)

However, in modern societies the behavioural and professional patterns among men and women are more and more the same: women smoke, use guns and have similar stressful lives as men.

Still, they live an average life 5 years longer.

Why?

[Confusious]

1. Personally, I think males have other factors

Cholesterol problems seem to run in the male side of my family. Blood pressure in both males and females.

I'm probably wrong, but that's my experience.

It could also be an average, males doing riskier things, ending up dead sooner, so the stupid among us bring the average down.

[Sirveri]

2. It's probably because X tossed a bunch of garbage at the Y chromosome back in the day.

So men end up with a lot more issues due to that screwed up Y chromosome than women who don't have one.

[Skittles]

3. because women are stronger

[diane in sf]

4. Old women are very valuable to a tribe's health and survival. They know everyone's relations--

even the illicit ones/whose related to who. They are very concerned with their own children, grandchildren, children in general, human relationships, health and feeding, etc. to a greater degree than most (not all) men. The question is similar for the question of why human women live long after they can reproduce, unlike men. Also women are much less likely to be murdered, killed in battle, or killed in accidents.

It's good to have people in your tribe live long enough (roughly 80-85 years old) to know how to survive a number of low frequency/high impact disasters--like earthquakes and tsunamis (issues like escape, procuring alternative foods, water, shelter, etc.).

[TexasProgresive]

5. A thoughtful reply

At birth there is a higher percentage of males to females. This starts shifting right from the beginning. The link is to an actuarial life table that shows the chance of dying in each year of birth. for males it begins higher and becomes radically higher in the teens. That would be from risky behavior but the death rates for males remain higher until the unrealistic age of 116.

There could be any number of factors as to why. Here some possibilities:
1) There is an inherent weakness in the male that leads to early death.
2) It takes fewer males to propagate the species.
3) Males more likely to engage in risky behavior.
3) Longer living females ensure offspring growing to adulthood.

http://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html

[Tumbulu]

6. I think this is true for most mammals and perhaps most vertebrates

I get the idea that the male of the species expresses more variation than the female.

The female of the species is the limiting factor in the populations expansion and the complications of gestation and rearing of young allow for not much in terms of experimentation evolutionarily speaking. And so the variability being expressed by the male allows for both a means to see how an new trait works out and if it is a successful adaptation, then it should give that male a reproductive advantage.

But more opportunities for success are also more opportunities for failure.

This is my take on your question.

[bemildred]

7. Smaller size for one thing.

All that muscular and cardio-vascular hypertrophy has it's price when you get older, and the extra weight.

I was reading somewhere that only about 40% of men manage to reproduce, compared to around 80% of women.

[Odin2005]

8. Men have only one X chromosome.

So if something goes wrong in a gene on our single X there is no back-up.

Also, testosterone weakens the immune system.

[Gigibagigi]

9. Castration

I have read the same somewhere..
Wondering if castration would make you gain a few extra years of life.

http://theweek.com/article/index/208549/male-castration-the-easiest-way-to-live-to-100

[Tumbulu]

10. well it is true for my sheep at least

the wethers (castrated males) can outlive the ewes (oldest to live in my flock was 14) who normally make it to 12 years of age and the oldest rams even when I feed them oatmeal every day (when their teeth begin to go I cook up oatmeal as it is soft and easier to eat) usually only live until 7 years of age.

So, that is the answer. I guess I should not feel so bad about castrating the lambs......

[Gigibagigi]

11. Castration

I wonder how many (human) males may have contemplated such method to get a few more years to live

[Former_DU_Member]

12. Three possible reasons. Third reason seems to have a torch or something near the fuel tank.

On edit to add, the welder is a dead giveaway.

[3waygeek]

13. I've read that women living longer than men is a fairly recent thing...

prior to the development of asepsis and anesthesia, lots of women died during or shortly after childbirth, bringing down the average.