Take a leisurely walk around any retirement community and you’re bound to see some real gender imbalance, and that’s not likely to change any time soon. New research out of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and UC San Francisco found that the gap between how long men live and how long women live has been widening for more than a decade.
As of 2021 (the latest year there’s data for), women live an average of 5.8 years longer than men. That’s up a year from 2010 and making the gender longevity gap the largest it’s been since 1996.
The researchers were able to pinpoint the reasons why. The biggies: cardiovascular disease, cancer, opioid use, and suicide. COVID didn’t help matters either. At least 65,000 more men have died from the virus than women. This is primarily due to the fact that men are more likely to be homeless, locked up, and work in occupations putting them at higher risk for contracting the virus.
Yes, That Weird Mole On Your Back Needs to Be Looked At
Geller says that his research has unearthed something else that surprised him: Men die significantly more from melanoma than women. He says that the reason why this stuck out to him is because, when caught early, melanoma deaths are rare. “Two out of every three melanoma deaths are in men. This is so fascinating because it is more due to behavior than biology,” Geller says.
What does he mean? Women are more likely to wear sunscreen, for one. Women are more likely to be proactive about their health too—including getting suspicious moles checked out by their derm. One-third of men don’t get annual check-ups and 55% of men don’t see a doctor for regular health screenings. If you want to lower your risk of melanoma—a cancer that more men are dying of than women—wear sunscreen, check your body for any changing moles, and if anything does look suspicious, see a doctor about it. It sounds simple, but it just might save your life.
