Who Lives Longer?…man or woman
By: Apolinario B. Villalobos
While the question on strength and intelligence has oftentimes been raisedbetween the two genders, the issue on longevity is almost always not given so much attention. And, this despite the fact that the matter has its effect on our social structure in general. Say, who would take care of the one who would outlive the other? What if the wife outlives the husband or the other way around happens? – are just two of the questions with regard to this issue.
Scientific findings supported by statistics show that women, indeed, outlive men. And, in this fact is where the difference matters. As a tradition, the man who is expected to be stronger than the woman is expected to take care of the latter as they grow old, and because of this expectation, the wife is plunged into various depressions brought about by loneliness when she survives her husband.
Tradition dictates that on the issue of partnership, man must be older than the woman, as the former is expected to set out house rules, hence, the authority. Lately, however, some researchers aver that the reason for the age factor is due to the fact that the woman show external manifestation of aging faster than man. So that between a twenty-year-old woman who marries a twenty-five-year old man, the former already has an advantage of five years, hence, the concept of her outliving the latter.
Research findings have helped a lot in the understanding of the biologic factors that influence the life expectancy of both the man and the woman. However, other key factors involve choices of lifestyles that can lead to a full and active, hence, longer life. Playing important roles in determining the life expectancy of both sexes are the hereditary factors in which some hormones are seen to have a very significant part. Our glands produce these chemicals that affect the organs in which they are produced oraffect other organs by travelling through the bloodstream.
Each gender may be made unique by some hormones. For one, estrogen appear to protect women from coronary atherosclerosis, making them at risk with this disease only between the age of 65 to 74, compared to the men’s risk upon reaching the age of 55 until 64. Modern science has afforded the financially capable women to undergo some kind of estrogen replacement when they reach the menopausal age during which estrogenproduction of their glands diminishes rapidly. This therapy also helps prevent osteoporosis.
On the other hand, vanity that is more attached to feminity has given the woman an excuse for external physical retouches – facials, bustlifts, regular skin smoothening that include chemicals that eradicate wrinkles, liposuctions, and the like. The trend has radically changed the marketing strategies and diversified the products of laboratory firms that made the forty-up age bracket of women as a veritable and a gold slice of the market for their products that flood outlets – from body lotion, make-up accessories, shampoo, and injectibles. Ads clearly specify the intended target of the products even coming up with photos of mothers and daughter for customers “to see the difference and judge for themselves.”
How about the men? Well, the macho gender has a way of proving his virility despite the ascending number that comes with years of his life. It is a fact that man can still be fertile even at age seventy or even past that age. This is how beerhouses and nightclubs and some discreet videoke bars have flourished. Man does not need make-up and smooth skin to prove his virility. A pocket bulging with cash will do.
We now find that the effort of both sexes are expensive, seen from any angle or even how much justifications are rattled. Unfortunately, these efforts have their consequences – the course of modern living. Casual sex on the part of the men to prove that they can still do it, although most of the time done with other parts could result to hideous STDs (sexually transmitted diseases). As for the women, overdose of those beauty products could result to blotchy skin due to indiscriminate use of skin bleach, cancerous breast due to improper implants, loss of facial expression due to overdose of injectible wrinkle “erasers”, and even damage internal organs due to overdose of synthetic hormones.
The question now that we should seriously ponder is not who gets or looks older earlier or faster, the man or woman, but who had been and will be more productive and useful. For the woman, remember what you always assert – equality of genders. And for the man, do not forget chivalry that is eternally marked in manhood.
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