WHY DO MEN LIVE SHORTER LIVES?
Enter a nursing home and you may notice a disproportionate amount of the residents are women.* Although the difference is slight, men globally typically live shorter lives than women. In the United States, the average life expectancy for a man is 75 years, for a woman, that figure is 80 years.** Although it is difficult to pin down exactly what causes this disparity, scientists suggest that the gap is created by biological and societal factors.
The biological differences begin at a young age. The frontal lobe, the part of the brain responsible for judgment and consequences, develops slower in boys than girls. As a result, boys are likely to act more recklessly and die in accidents.* Additionally, this leads men to make more detrimental lifestyle choices like smoking or binge drinking. This explains why men have higher rates of diseases like lung cancer.**
Compounded with men’s slower development of the frontal lobe, they also produce higher levels of testosterone. This hormone is responsible for men’s higher level of physical activity and aggressiveness which can lead to further risk of accidents and homicide-related deaths.** Interestingly, men’s larger size may also influence their longevity as across many other species smaller animals tend to live longer. That being said, more research is still needed to fully grasp how much this may influence death rates in humans.*
Women also appear to have biological advantages that make them more likely to live longer. For starters, women produce higher levels of hormones that are beneficial to their health. Estrogen, the hormone that regulates the reproductive system, helps them better combat diseases like heart disease. There is also speculation that this hormone acts like an “antioxidant” that absorbs chemicals that cause cell stress.*** Other evidence suggests that women have stronger immune systems than men.†
There are other societal factors that can also explain the life expectancy gender gap. In many cultures, men are often expected to work outside the home, sometimes in work that is hazardous like manual labor. This labor can also result in injuries that can affect men later on in life. Since women are expected to stay at home, they face lower risk.**
The discussion of mental health in society is also a major factor. Not only is men’s mental health often overlooked, but men who are struggling are often discouraged from seeking help. This results in increased suicide rates for untreated mental illnesses like depression. On the subject of medical assistance, men are also more likely to skip doctor visits, a potential byproduct of toxic masculinity culture that tells men to, “suck it up.” Howard C. Stevenson is the director of the Racial Empowerment Collaborative at UPenn and explains that “we Should place less emphasis on whether Black men are resistant to therapy and more on understanding the contexts in which they already feel comfortable talking about their feelings and traumas.”
Although the reasons why men live shorter lives than women seem rooted in our culture and biology, there are ways that we can shorten the gap. Mainly, by pushing public campaigns that advocate for men’s issues, such as National Men’s Health Month in June. A prime example of the potential success is the antismoking campaign that took place in the 1970s which reduce lung disease-related deaths significantly for men. Great potential also lies in breaking down outdated gender norms that perpetuate harmful behavior from men.***
REFERENCES
* Schmerling, Robert H. “Why men often die earlier than women,” Harvard Health Publishing, 22 June 2020, https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/why-men-often-die-earlier-than-women-201602199137.
** Yin, Sandra. “Gender Disparities in Health and Mortality,” Population Reference Bureau, 9 Nov. 2007, https://www.prb.org/resources/gender-disparities-in-health-and-mortality/.
*** Heid, Markham. “Why Do Women Live Longer Than Men?” TIME, 27 Feb. 2019, https://time.com/5538099/why-do-women-live-longer-than-men/.
† PRB. “Around the Globe, Women Outlive Men,” Population Reference Bureau, 1 Sept. 2011, https://www.prb.org/resources/around-the-globe-women-outlive-men/#:~:text=Biological%20differences%20also%20help%20to,stronger%20immune%20systems%20than%20men.
‡ DeAngelis, Tori. “Black men’s mental health matters,” American Phsychological Association, 1 Sept. 2021, https://www.apa.org/monitor/2021/09/ce-black-mental-health.