It’s Men’s Fault Women Are Living Longer

Health Wellness

Like me, you’ve probably heard all of your life that women live longer than men. My dad once told me that because women live longer, that I should marry a woman a few years older than me, otherwise, she’d probably end up to be a widow for a number of years. I kind of took his advice, but not totally as my wife is just 9 months older.

I also heard many people say that the reason men die younger is that they are the ones out in the fields and factories working and are exposed to more dangers and accidents. Men are also the ones that traditionally went off to war, leaving the women home to tend the family and house.

There may have been some truth to that, but with more women in the work place, occupying more male-oriented jobs than ever before, one would expect the life expectancy gap between the sexes to be narrowing, but that’s not the case.

Around 1920, the mortality gap was only about 1-2 years. Today, some statistics indicate that it has widened to more than 5 years.

When you look at some of the leading causes of death – cancer, stroke, heart disease, pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, liver disease, kidney disease, cirrhosis, influenza and suicide, you will find that men die at higher rates in all of these than women do.

So, what’s the reason men are dying younger than women and resulting in a widening mortality gap?

What if I told you that it was the man’s fault?

Whenever you go to a doctor’s office, are there more men or women in the waiting room?

I know, it depends on the type of doctor. When I go my chiropractor, it’s mostly men, but when I visit my regular doctor, the waiting room is generally more occupied by women than men.

That doesn’t mean that women are sicker than men. Some see it as the difference between how men and women view their health or how they take care of themselves.

In today’s world, women tend to be more health conscious than men. Women tend to watch their weight more; monitor their blood pressure more and have regular check-ups.

On the flip side, men are men and it often takes a lot to get many men to go see a doctor.

I confess, that’s been me most of my life. I grew up around the outdoors. I rode bulls and saddle broncs for several years and my motto in life was (and still is) ‘cowboy up’. I’ve set some of my own broken bones, given myself stitches, removed my own stitches, gave myself a tetanus shot, drained the fluid in my knee and drew my own blood for a nurse.

Many men are like this.

We tend to eat what and how much we want. We’re not going to eat sissy or rabbit food, but rather give us a thick juicy steak, baked potato smothered with butter or cheese and bacon bits and then drown our vegetables in more butter or cheese sauce and wash it all down with an ice-cold beer.

Go into a restaurant and take a look at who is eating what. The women are having a salad or a kid’s portion while the guy is chowing down on the meat and carbs. The ladies will have a glass of water with lemon or iced tea while the guys are enjoying what a former co-worker of mine described as ‘cereal in a can’ – referring to a beer since they are made from grains.

This is why women live longer and men die younger. Men don’t manage their health nearly as much as women do, especially when they are younger. But there is a price to pay for that male pride and that’s an earlier grave.

Gender Differences Life Expectancy Preventitive Care

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