Eli5: Why do women live longer than men on average, even among the older population like supercentenarians?
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People are pointing to social factors, but this is probably 95% biological. Females live longer than males in most mammal species.
Other commenters have mentioned the protective effect estrogen has on the heart. Women’s lower metabolic rate. The backup X chromosome.
Some other factors I haven’t seen in these comments:
– Estrogen lengthens telomeres. You know the plastic bits you have on the ends of your shoelaces to prevent them from fraying? Telomeres serve the same function at the ends of your chromosomes and protect your DNA. Estrogen promotes telomere growth.
– Height. Shorter people live longer than taller people. Presumably, having to pump the blood up higher is bad on the heart.
– Women have stronger immune systems. There is some evidence in favor of the “man flu” – men just get hit harder by common diseases like colds and flus.
– The grandmother hypothesis. Why do human women go through menopause? In mammal species that do, such as dolphins, the grandmothers tend to play a crucial role in raising the grandchildren. The theory is, women enter a second phase of their life where they stop having their own kids so they can focus on raising their grandkids. So there is evolutionary pressure to keep women around longer for the benefit of the third generation.
And others have mentioned the risk-taking behavior that’s on the border between biology and culture. Around the world, men are more likely to smoke, drink alcohol, do drugs, eat red meat, eat fewer vegetables, drive recklessly, join gangs, get into physical fights, play extreme sports, etc. If it were mostly cultural, this wouldn’t be consistent around the world. Testosterone likely plays a role here.
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