Why women live longer than men: 5 reasons for relative longevity
Life expectancy in different regions of the Earth is not the same. It is influenced by social stability, economic well-being, accessibility and level of medical care, everyday comfort, literacy of the population in the field of compliance with sanitary and hygienic standards, and many other factors. However, one thing remains common in almost all countries of the world: women live on average 7-10 years longer than men. Today we will talk about the reasons for this phenomenon.
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Differences in how the immune system works
The defenses of the male and female organisms work in different ways. Representatives of the stronger sex are more resistant to heavy physical exertion and nervous shocks, but very susceptible to infections. It has been established that men are much more likely than women to succumb to bacterial, fungal and viral infections, they are more difficult to tolerate and get complications.
A stronger and more flexible immunity of a woman, apparently, is associated with the adaptation of her body to conception, bearing a fetus, giving birth and feeding a baby. But the representatives of the beautiful half of a person are forced to pay for resistance to infections with an increased tendency to allergies.
In general, the situation looks paradoxical: women get sick more often than men, but they live longer, since the latter suffer diseases more severely and more often get complications.
Features of food digestion
The female digestive tract is more sensitive than the male. He is unable to cope with a large amount of rough and heavy food. Women often face ailments associated with malfunctioning intestines, gastritis and colitis. However, this feature also has a downside: the fair sex digest food almost three times slower than men. This helps to better and more evenly assimilate the substances necessary for life and saves from many pathologies. For example, stomach and intestinal cancers are less common in women than in men, and the rate of recovery from this kind of ailment is higher among women.
Less adherence to bad habits
Men are much more likely than women to become slaves to bad habits. For example, in our country the ratio of the number of men and women suffering from alcoholism is 5: 1. The ratio in terms of the number of drug addicts is somewhat different: there is 1 woman for every 7 drug addicted men.
Considering that adherence to bad habits is one of the main risk factors for deadly ailments, one can understand why the fair sex on average live several years longer.
Differences in emotional warehouse
Women are more emotional, talkative, more open to communication. The ability to throw out their experiences helps them to more easily endure the vicissitudes of life and maintain the health of the nervous and cardiovascular systems.
Men are more restrained, tend to hide feelings. Troubles and stress injure them much more than the fair sex. Also, men and women perceive trouble differently. For example, a man experiences professional failure as a personal tragedy, since his self-esteem directly depends on the degree of social realization. A woman reacts less dramatically to such circumstances: it is easier for her to find other sources of satisfaction (caring for loved ones, positive changes in appearance, hobbies, hobbies, etc.). A wider emotional range allows a woman to remain mentally and physically active in situations where the man gives up, feels overwhelmed and sick.
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Attention to your health
It is common for a woman to take care of her appearance, therefore, of her health. According to statistics, the fairer sex more often than men go to doctors and are much more conscientious about the implementation of their recommendations.
In this case, the differences in behavior are associated not only with the fact that women are more motivated to maintain optimal physical shape. The beautiful half of humanity is by nature more resistant to pain and easier to tolerate the discomfort associated with diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Simply put, men are afraid to go to doctors. Do not forget that women are more sociable and easier to make contact with strangers, while men are sometimes embarrassed to admit that they are unwell and find it difficult to describe their feelings.
Statistically, married men live longer on average than their unmarried peers. Long-term happy marriages contribute not only to longevity, but also to the successful preservation of physical and intellectual activity of both partners, even at a very respectable age. Such facts indicate that life expectancy increases if people love each other, surround their loved ones with care and support. In combination with the rejection of bad habits and an optimistic outlook on the world, this makes it possible to resist adversity, to maintain health and vigor for a long time.
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Maria Kulkes Medical journalist About the author
Education: First Moscow State Medical University named after I. M. Sechenov, specialty "General Medicine".
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