Skip to comments.
Why Women Live Longer: It's the Genes
Hotair ^
| 10/02/2025
| John Sexton
Posted on 10/02/2025 8:59:15 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Sydney Sweeney really does have good genes and not just because she's an attractive blonde. More importantly, women in general appear to have a genetic advantage that gives them a longer lifespan than men. The fact that women live longer has been well known for a long time. But a recent study across the animal kingdom suggest and explanation for why this happens.
“From a human standpoint, it’s really remarkable that women live longer across almost every country in the world,” said Johanna Staerk, an evolutionary demographer at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany. “So we were interested at looking at this from a broader taxonomic perspective.”
A quick biology lesson on the birds and the bees … well, birds and other animals:
In mammals, including humans, sex is generally determined by the X and Y chromosomes. If a baby has a pair of X chromosomes, she’s a girl. If the baby inherits an X chromosome and a Y chromosome, he’s a boy.
Just a brief interruption. It shouldn't be remarkable that the paragraph above appeared in the Washington Post but I think it is. Even more surprising, I don't see anyone in the comments stating that trans women are women or that sex is "assigned" at birth. Maybe the lunatics missed this because it was in the science section.
In any case, it turns out birds have the opposite system.
Female birds have a pair of unlike sex chromosomes while males have the like pair. (In this sort of sex-determination system, scientists use the letters W and Z, and talk about a ZW pair for female birds and a ZZ pair for males.)
So the theory proposed to explain longer life among women is called the "heterogametic sex hypothesis." It's pretty simple. Creatures that have two copies of the same gene, XX genes for female mammals or ZZ genes for male birds, will tend to live longer because they have a backup copy in case something gets corrupted.
If for instance, a male human has a corrupted X or Y gene as a result of a mutation caused by some environmental factor, there won't be a 2nd copy available in a given cell. Some protein isn't getting built and maybe something isn't functioning at all or at least not as intended. Female humans on the other hand, have a ready backup if there's a mutation.
This new study which looked at hundreds of species of birds and mammals seems to back up that hypothesis. The sex with two copies of the same gene usually lives longer.
For their study, Colchero, Staerk and their colleagues collected data on the lifespans of 528 mammal species and 648 bird species kept in zoos. The team found that most other mammals are like humans, with the females of nearly three-fourths of mammal species outliving their male counterparts.
But in birds, 68 percent of species studied showed a bias toward male longevity, as expected from their chromosomal makeup.
Pretty interesting idea. There are some people arguing in the comments that the longer life for women might also have a social factor.
Women have tended to outlive men because they worked fewer hours at crummy, soul-sucking jobs. Now they work just like men at the same jobs. The internet has created no barriers between work and home; you're always on the clock. Women's life expectancy advantage has narrowed as a result. Multiple studies show this.
Lots to consider for why women live longer. It's rarely just nature but in this case the genetic explanation does make some sense.
TOPICS: Health/Medicine; Science; Society
KEYWORDS: agitprop; divorce; genes; longevity; riskyoccupations; sydneysweeney; thedraft; women
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20, 21-40, 41-44 next last
To: Owen
women have more chromosomes, 2 x’s instead of an x and a smaller y. More redundancy and information to pick up the slack
To: nickcarraway
No, but because Jane Goodall just kicked the bucket, lots of folks are suggesting that they knew her true feelings about x, y, and z. Oh, and indeed what she thought of Trump.
To: Wally_Kalbacken
To: SeekAndFind
To: MarlonRando
25
posted on
10/02/2025 11:21:42 PM PDT
by
mowowie
To: lee martell
I outlived three husbands. 89 now, take one prescription drug, weigh about 115. My MD says I’m the healthiest person my age he’s ever seen .
Did this just happen? No. I believe in prevention, eating right, taking all the right supplements, try to exercise every day. Life is fun and I love living, which I think, contributes to longevity. Young Black checker at my supermarket has the same attitude. Terrific young man, we enjoy our brief moments together.
Friends with great attitudes help too. As my old Irish uncle used to say, “Stay on the bright side”.
26
posted on
10/02/2025 11:39:26 PM PDT
by
Veto!
(Trump Is Superman)
To: Veto!
The attitude does matter a great deal on how one experiences the quality of their life.
Sometimes, you see what you expect to be seeing.
To: Veto!
Applauding!!! Keep doing what you’re doing right!
28
posted on
10/03/2025 12:17:30 AM PDT
by
mairdie
To: SeekAndFind
Maybe if humans had unlike genes in the areas that control the sex organs and the uterus and like genes everywhere else; you would have backup copies in the working parts of the human anatomy. The life expectancy problem solved.
29
posted on
10/03/2025 12:40:35 AM PDT
by
jonrick46
(Leftniks chase illusions of motherships at the end of the pier.)
To: All
Men are not valued in our society.
A million American men died in combat in the last century.
Men fill prisons. Vast number of suicides and homeless in our country are men.
For the same crimes women are given a small percentage of the sentences men receive. For some crimes like, say, sex crimes bt a teacher women are usually getting probation while a male perp is looking at years in jail.
Watch the documentary RED PILL to see how the U. S. Legal system treats men.
The devaluation of men by our medical system is what shortens male lifespans even further.
Even supposed male-dominated sports have breast cancer awareness events with pink cleats etc. Whats done for pro stage cancer awareness? Nothing because society doesn’t care if men die. They are expendable.
We live in a matriarchal society dominated by woman, valuing women over men, and that is the primary reason women outlive men here.
To: MinorityRepublican
It only appears that way because feminism gets more face time.
31
posted on
10/03/2025 2:36:31 AM PDT
by
equaviator
(Nobody's perfect. That's why they put pencils on erasers!)
To: SeekAndFind
More women smoke and drink like men now than used to. Then there’s obesity.
To: SeekAndFind
It sounds like if we just switch our roles men would live longer or if men had better health care.
However, God says He has written down the day one is to die before birth and that we can not increase our life span nor shorten it. Me, I look forward to leaving this spinning rock containing life’s problems and meet God, in His timing.
33
posted on
10/03/2025 3:35:12 AM PDT
by
jimfr
To: SeekAndFind
Have we all forgotten how terribly dangerous childbirth was for women until the 20th century?
34
posted on
10/03/2025 3:38:58 AM PDT
by
Apple Pan Dowdy
(... as American as Apple Pie. Normal is not coming back, but Jesus will. )
To: PCPOET7
>> Can Women even have Prostate problems...
Only if they’re married to men!
(I think it was humor...)
35
posted on
10/03/2025 4:11:19 AM PDT
by
Nervous Tick
(Hope, as a righteous product of properly aligned Faith, IS in fact a strategy.)
To: MarlonRando
>> [women have] more redundancy and information to pick up the slack
I wonder if all that extra information they’re toting around fuels their penchant for drama and gossip...???
36
posted on
10/03/2025 4:14:41 AM PDT
by
Nervous Tick
(Hope, as a righteous product of properly aligned Faith, IS in fact a strategy.)
To: SeekAndFind
Men die sooner than their wives because they want to.
37
posted on
10/03/2025 4:17:51 AM PDT
by
Sirius Lee
("Never argue with a fool, onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.”)
To: Nervous Tick
no ... the drama comes from all of the false bullshit they believe ... they call it intuition ... they think feelings are facts ...
38
posted on
10/03/2025 4:23:23 AM PDT
by
bankwalker
(Feminists, like all Marxists, are ungrateful parasites.)
To: SeekAndFind
Oh crap! Another race riot over genes again.
39
posted on
10/03/2025 4:30:18 AM PDT
by
FlingWingFlyer
(The Shumer Shutdown. The first step of Sandy Cortez's grab of Chunky Shoomer's job. LOL!)
To: SeekAndFind
why do husbands die before their wives?
because they can.
40
posted on
10/03/2025 6:08:24 AM PDT
by
teeman8r
(Armageddon won't be pretty, but it's not like it's the end of the world or something )
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20, 21-40, 41-44 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson