Vim & Vigor - Fall 2017 - North Mississippi - 39

TRUE OR FALSE:

Men die sooner because they
engage in riskier behavior.

TRUE. When it comes to diet and
smoking, men historically have been
bigger risk takers. That puts them at
greater risk of deadly lung and heart
diseases. But that's been less true in
modern times, when women began
adopting those risks, too.
"Smoking, early on in the 1900s, was
mainly a male hobby," Beltran-Sanchez
says. "That changed in the 1950s or
'60s." That said, men are still more likely
to smoke than women; nearly 17 in 100
American men smoke, while nearly 14 in
100 American women do.

TRUE OR FALSE:

Biological differences put
women at an advantage.

COULD BE TRUE. Heart disease
historically has lowered survival rates
for men. That's because men are more
vulnerable to cardiovascular damage
and women are more resistant, BeltranSanchez says. Scientists are still looking
for a clear-cut reason for this advantage,
though cholesterol plays a role. Studies
have shown that before women reach
menopause, estrogen increases good
cholesterol and decreases so-called bad
cholesterol.

TRUE OR FALSE:

Women live longer because of
hormonal differences.

MAYBE. Some scientists hypothesize that estrogen helps lower mortality
rates up until menopause. Mortality
rates among women do rise more

WHY LIFE EXPECTANCY
VARIES AROUND THE WORLD
While it's true that women have longer life expectancies than men everywhere
in the world, it's also true that life expectancies vary widely among countries.
According to the World Health Organization's Global Health Observatory
data, Japan, Switzerland and Singapore have the longest life expectancies in the
world. In Japan, men can expect to live to be 80.5 years old, on average. For
women, that extends to 86.8 years.
But life expectancy is drastically lower in many African countries. Take Sierra
Leone: Women can expect to live only 50.8 years-and they, too, outlive their
male counterparts.
Why? Child survival rates matter, as does prevalence of disease and access to
medical care. In the 1990s, for example, life expectancies fell in Africa because
of the AIDS epidemic. The impact on the life span of residents of many African
countries was enough to push average expectancies down for the globe. Things
that developed countries such as the United States often take for granted,
such as access to clean drinking water that's free of contamination, also affect
life expectancy.

WEBSITE

sharply after menopause, but they
don't keep pace with mortality rates
of men. Beltran-Sanchez says that
although researchers are exploring
this, the link hasn't been proved.

TRUE OR FALSE:

Longevity is increasing for
men, too, and the life-span
difference between men and
women is narrowing.

TRUE. "Women are doing worse;
now it looks like men and women are
catching up," Beltran-Sanchez says.
Men still are more likely to die at
younger ages. But because behavior
differences between men and women
aren't as severe anymore-women are
taking risks, too- their average life
spans also will look more similar. This
is especially true for white women, for
whom life expectancy is going down.

For When
It's a Girl Thing
To learn more about the
services North Mississippi
Medical Center offers to
women, call 800-THE DESK
(800-843-3375) or visit
www.nmhs.net/women_
children_services.php.

(Researchers think it's driven in part
by rising suicide rates, alcohol and
drug poisonings, and liver disease.)
"Things are changing so much,"
Beltran-Sanchez says, "I'm not sure
how much longer we're going to keep
seeing this large female advantage." ■

FAL L 2017

39


http://www.nmhs.net/women_children_services.php

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vim & Vigor - Fall 2017 - North Mississippi

Contents
Vim & Vigor - Fall 2017 - North Mississippi - Cover1
Vim & Vigor - Fall 2017 - North Mississippi - Cover2
Vim & Vigor - Fall 2017 - North Mississippi - Contents
Vim & Vigor - Fall 2017 - North Mississippi - 2
Vim & Vigor - Fall 2017 - North Mississippi - 3
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Vim & Vigor - Fall 2017 - North Mississippi - Cover3
Vim & Vigor - Fall 2017 - North Mississippi - Cover4
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