5 reasons women live longer than men

While life expectancy in the U.S. is at an all-time high, women still live longer than men, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Now scientists have come up with a handful of reasons to explain the gender gap in longevity.

On average, an American born in 2012 will live to the ripe old age of 78 years and 9.5 months. But a girl can expect to live to 81.2 years — almost 5 years longer than a boy baby born today.

NewsMax Health reports the following five reasons scientists believe this is so.

Females are tougher in utero: Two and a half as many boys are conceived as girls, but they’re much more likely to succumb to prenatal infection or other issues in the womb that by the time they’re born, studies show. Boys are also slower to develop physically than girls prenatally, which means they’re more likely to die if they are preemies due to underdeveloped lung or brain development.

Women are less likely to be daredevils: Unintentional injuries are the third leading cause of death in men, according to the CDC; for women it’s only the sixth. One reason: The frontal lobes of the brain —tied to responsibility and risk calculation — develop much more slowly in males than females. Consequently, guys often take many more risks that may put them in danger.

Females succumb to heart disease later: Cardiovascular disease is the leading killer of men and women, but men are more likely to develop it — and die from it — early (in their 30s and 40s). Women, typically develop heart disease 10 years later than men, in part because their bodies churn out estrogen, which helps keep arteries strong and flexible.

Women have stronger social networks: People with strong social connections have a 50 percent lower chance of dying than those with few social ties, according to a 2010 study at Brigham Young University. In general, women are more likely than men to develop such connections.

Females take better care of their health: Men are 24 percent less likely than women to have visited a doctor within the past year and are 22 percent more likely to skip out on cholesterol testing, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

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