Maybe it's because of the grief they give us guys that drives us to the grave early???

(by the way, that was a joke heh)

And then we will be even closer to fulfilling the agenda of total male feminization.

Like I needed one more dude pushing me aside in the mirror.

I've wondered about this, but I think you guys are the lucky ones.

How many women outlive their spouses and even some of their male children? Who in their right man would want that?

Living longer doesn't mean living a quality extra few years. My granny outlived a child and her husband. Her last year was plagued with devastating emotional and physical problems. She died a year after my grandfather, and I truly believe she willed her death.

My great grandmother survived three children and her husband of nearly sixty years. She spent the last four years of her life bedridden.

All in all, I think I'd rather die before going through that.

I would say women live longer due to a number of bad-lifestyle habits they are slightly less prone to, such as:

1) Women drink less
2) Women smoke less
3) Women partake in less reckless behaviour, such as extreme sports

Those three may be more than enough to explain the longevity issue, no?

Do we not need to prove that the issue exists before we look for potential evolutionary causes?

It is very possible that a combination of bad lifestyle choices, and other things could contribute to longer lifespans in women.

I have watched one of my grandmothers wither away in a nursing home, which was very hard. But on the other hand, another of my grandmothers was very active until the day she died.

I think the rate of decline is depenent on physical, and mental activity; especially the types of activity.

I've always thought that since women are designed to carry another life-form in them, they simply have extra supplements in reserve when not providing for said extra life.

When that 'stuff' isn't being used for enriching that extra life, it gets spilled over into her normal genes which extends her own life.

That, or what HomerinNC said about men wanting to check out sooner than their spouses!

Come to think of it all my great grandmas / grandmas outlived their spouses by yeeeeeeeearrrrs and many did outlive children. I don't fancy it, doesn't bare thinking about. OH jokes about pushing up daisies by 54, I don't find it funny so the beatings will continue until morale improves.

Selection.

Women are more useful in old age to the continuance of their genetics. Children with engaged Grandmothers are more likely to live and thrive. While the advantage is slight, it is enough to have an effect over many generations. Slowly increasing the numbers of those whose genes tend towards women who live longer.

Add this the increase in deaths amoung males of all ages under 25, you'll get some skewing of the statistics.

Males are also more likely to die when they are older when their female partner dies before them. The person who connects them to their family is gone, and they haven't the lifetime of skills on how to engage with them. They essentially die of unrecognized loneliness.

If older males start engaging with their families more consistently (as they are in some groups) and remain a useful addition to the overall health of their grandchildren, their lines will eventually start showing these same traits. If they choose to mate with women with these tendencies, their line will get a boost in that direction immediately.

Thats nice and all but,

I personally think it is because the men will take jobs that are/could be questiuonable to their health. Such as a coal miner, any dust filled occupation, chemicals, and so on.

I believe that occupation has alot to do with it. I im in no way saying that a woman does not work hard to take care of the family, but usually(I want to emphasize usually here) the men will work themselves to the bone to provide for their family. Often staying up late or not sleeping right.

That is just my thought on this. And maybe after generations of doing this the mens dna is somewhat mutating to compensate for something else. You know like evolving.

Woman live longer than men because men do all the work...

I don't have links but years ago they used to explain the longevity difference in that men generally either did non physical office/executive work or did very demanding physical labor well into middle age and beyond- both are very hard on your health. Women did most of the housework and did it daily and it was physically demanding enough that it provides good conditioning in terms of mobility, tone and stretch as well as cardiovascular health. Mind you, this was older research but it does make me wonder. If you do all your own regular housework and yard maintenance it's pretty physical and so is carrying babies and toddlers around. It was stressed that daily moderate conditioning is more healthful than a lifetime of demanding manual labor or bursts of sporadic activity at the gym and weekend sports. I'm not saying this is true. I'm saying this is what was believed and studied in the past but it does make sense to me.

I would like to see current research on this. Good thread.