Older men with younger women, live longer!

[difenbaker]

May/December Couples Boost Human Lifespan
Jeanna Bryner
LiveScience Staff Writer
LiveScience.com Mon Sep 17, 10:30 AM ET

Older men who shack up with much younger women keep the grim reaper at bay for the human population and extend our species' lifespan, new research claims.

Even beyond movie stars and Playboy's Hugh Hefner, there is a tendency for older men to partner with younger women, according to the study, published in the Aug. 29 edition of PLoS ONE. In less developed, traditional societies, males are about 5 to 15 years older than their female partners. In the United States and Europe, guys are an average of two years senior to their partners.

More interesting, when old men father children, their genes seem to increase the lifespan of both sexes over evolutionary time.

How it works

Women often lose their reproductive capacity around age 50, but if men can still reproduce into their 70s, Darwin would say it's advantageous for males to live longer lives providing they can hook up with a woman capable of reproducing. Natural selection should favor longevity-boosting genes, which would get passed down from fathers to both sons and daughters. So women would benefit as well in future generations, the scientists say.

Result: Over time, the older-guy-with-younger-gal lifestyle would lift the lifespan ceiling for both men and women in the next generations and so on.

"By increasing the survival of men you have a spillover effect on women because men pass their genes to children of both sexes," said study team member Cedric Puleston, a doctoral candidate at Stanford University.

Anthropologist Cheryl Jamison of Indiana University, who was not involved in the research, called the results "fascinating."

more here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20070917/sc_livescience/maydecembercouplesboosthumanlifespan




.... so guys, the younger your wife/girlfriend, the longer you'll live. Hehehe... :)

cheers!

[666joe]

Interesting piece ! but dang - my Mrs is older than me.....

Best make hay while the sun shines eh !

[stephanie]

naughty diffy. ;)

[Diji1]

Interesting piece ! but dang - my Mrs is older than me.....

Best make hay while the sun shines eh !

You better... your genetic line is at stake here man, what are you doing typing still!?

So does this mean when I'm 65 and ogling 16 year old girls I can say I'm not a perve, I'm just ensuring I have the best, most healthy progeny?

Dammit I hate moving house...

Actually I thought about this, it makes sense: men are supposed to erm, play with younger women because that means men live longer, thereby they satisfy more younger women, meaning everyone's happy. Right?

Actually this isn't surprising - it correlates with something that I was reading before. That being that men and women in Australia who have achieved success, as defined by our culture and society, live longer than people who don't. Part of "success" (because it's debatable if this is a worthy measure of personal worth) is status; for men especially having a partner that is physically attractive is a sign of status. Note that I don't think this is a sign of a healthy relationship by itself (it could be). Our society, Australian society I mean - which is close in many ways to US & European society & culture, has a pervasive persuasion towards equating youth & beauty. However, women that possess youth and beauty have been seen as status for men for a long time, millenia in fact, it's not a new thing.

I'm like every other hetero male, I'm attracted to younger women and beauty of my partner is definitely a status thing for me and I suspect most others whether they know it or admit it. The last year or whatever I've started to think much more carefully about people though... beauty is not everything by a long shot.

[problematic]

Wow this article rocks! There's a number of people I should show this to. Hehehe. :D

Nice find!

[666joe]

Wow this article rocks! There's a number of people I should show this to. Hehehe. :D

Nice find!

Lol was waiting for the "your as young as the woman you feel" quote...

Wonder what a bevvy of young sultry mistresses would do for an old persons health ?

[Diji1]

Wonder what a bevvy of young sultry mistresses would do for an old persons health ?

Probably either make him feel a great deal younger or kill him. So it'd be good either way for him ;)

I always notice Donald Trump has a huge grin on his face. Who here wants to bet that it isn't the money that does this... or his (bevvy of) ex-wives :D .

[ishaanranderia]

I always notice Donald Trump has a huge grin on his face. Who here wants to bet that it isn't the money that does this... or his (bevvy of) ex-wives :D .

Lol...:p
I have a long way to go, but i'll be sure to remember this some 40 years from now;)

[Jose_R.A.M]

Women often lose their reproductive capacity around age 50, but if men can still reproduce into their 70s

Hmmm I always thought that it wasn't so much that males are special in being able to reproduce way past 70 and women generally stop at 50.

It's just that pregnancy becomes more difficult past 35. Older women can't cope with the strain as much as the younger women. It wouldn't really be wise to have a 60 year old pregnant woman.

Men on the other hand, won't really be doing anything else after procreation. Except maybe for the odd pre-natal classes (some involve the father into being "at one" with the pregnancy) there's really no long term strenuous activity of child bearing.

But I certainly won't discount this study years along the line.

PS. Owning any animal companion increases your lifespan too. Especially if you pick one you can stroke. Like a dog or a cat. (Not really a fish, but you can try) Maybe it's the whole affection thing that helps prolong life?

[Diji1]

It wouldn't really be wise to have a 60 year old pregnant woman.

Men on the other hand, won't really be doing anything else after procreation. Except maybe for the odd pre-natal classes (some involve the father into being "at one" with the pregnancy) there's really no long term strenuous activity of child bearing.

PS. Owning any animal companion increases your lifespan too. Especially if you pick one you can stroke. Like a dog or a cat. (Not really a fish, but you can try) Maybe it's the whole affection thing that helps prolong life?

True - well, true in if you forget about the very, very recent period up until now where it has been possible and/or feasible for women to givebirth after 35, at least in many/most cultures on earth. Possible in the sense of deaths and injury caused during childbirth and feasible in the sense that in the past, for the vast majority of human existence, 35 wasn't just a bad age to give birth at for women, it was more or less life expectatancy for adults.

I don't know if agree that men do nothing; traditionally, in many/most cultures after humankind started settling into an agricultural way of life, even in cultures where polygamy or similar practices exist, there existed strong social and cultural pressures for men to provide food, shelter and protection for women and children in order to ensure populations survived. I say before agriculture becuase there's some evidence that this is the period where men moved into the traditional, patricharchal (spelling?) positions they've held around that time, due to settling in one place from a hunter/gathering lifestyle and the resulting enviromental and cultural imperatives.

In the very modern era, apart from the move towards sharing responsibility and workload of childrearing for some families, there seems to be a generally held idea that people don't instinctively know how to raise children and hence one must study and learn vast qualitities of infomation in order to increase chances of a good life for one's offspring - notice the recent rash of baby courses, books, seminars, whisperers, life coaches etc. in the area of raising parents (who can raise children). Much of it useless apparently as unscrupulous/clueless people cash in on parents love of the future or present offspring.

And you're right about affection - well, touch of a living animal to another actually. It's been shown in a series of terrible experiments that new-borns will die without touch (it happened :( ) and also that owning pets and touching them with affection does increase lifespan - as well as providing positive benefits such as reducing stress, lonliness and increasing quality of life.

[Jose_R.A.M]

True - well, true in if you forget about the very, very recent period up until now where it has been possible and/or feasible for women to givebirth after 35, at least in many/most cultures on earth. Possible in the sense of deaths and injury caused during childbirth and feasible in the sense that in the past, for the vast majority of human existence, 35 wasn't just a bad age to give birth at for women, it was more or less life expectatancy for adults.

I don't know if agree that men do nothing; traditionally, in many/most cultures after humankind started settling into an agricultural way of life, even in cultures where polygamy or similar practices exist, there existed strong social and cultural pressures for men to provide food, shelter and protection for women and children in order to ensure populations survived. I say before agriculture becuase there's some evidence that this is the period where men moved into the traditional, patricharchal (spelling?) positions they've held around that time, due to settling in one place from a hunter/gathering lifestyle and the resulting enviromental and cultural imperatives.

What I meant in men doing nothing is in the physical child bearing stage. The male can impregnate as many women as he can get to give him consent (how ever irresponsible that may be) since releasing his seed is the only part of procreation he has to do (biologically anyway, socially yes, there's a lot more to it).

The famale has to carry the consequences of pregnancy...9 month gestation. Quite a bit of strain. Hence the male can continue doing that till his old age but older females just aren't designed for that.


And you're right about affection - well, touch of a living animal to another actually. It's been shown in a series of terrible experiments that new-borns will die without touch (it happened :( ) and also that owning pets and touching them with affection does increase lifespan - as well as providing positive benefits such as reducing stress, lonliness and increasing quality of life.

I remember reading about this a few years back and even before than that, seeing it on documentary.

Petting a "fake" dog, i.e. cuddly toy resembling a dog, also has near the same benefits as stroking a real one apparently.

BTW, any studies on what happens if you happen to BE the girlfriend? Or is this just about younger partners in general?

[Diji1]

What I meant in men doing nothing is in the physical child bearing stage. The male can impregnate as many women as he can get to give him consent (how ever irresponsible that may be) since releasing his seed is the only part of procreation he has to do (biologically anyway, socially yes, there's a lot more to it).

The famale has to carry the consequences of pregnancy...9 month gestation. Quite a bit of strain. Hence the male can continue doing that till his old age but older females just aren't designed for that.



I remember reading about this a few years back and even before than that, seeing it on documentary.

Petting a "fake" dog, i.e. cuddly toy resembling a dog, also has near the same benefits as stroking a real one apparently.

BTW, any studies on what happens if you happen to BE the girlfriend? Or is this just about younger partners in general?

Yeah, agreed re: men and conception.

[edit:] ...Though I do recall listening to some show where it was pointed out that in purely evolutionary & biological reproductive terms it would appear, at first assessment, to be the case that the most successful way to reproduce is to simply have sex with any female - regardless of any circumstances or anything: ie. rape in most cases - impregnate as many women as possible. In this case I mean success purely measured in amount of times a given male impregnates a different woman and don't think I'm in any way advocating rape or sexual assault please.

The thing is this (as far as we know) has not been the case - rape has never been condoned in most societies - though I guess what rape is in some cultures is not rape in others - but generally one can say that. It's pretty much always been used as a weapon against enemies and as humiliation/punishment of course ... humans have a capacity for cruelty :( . It would seem there's evidence that passing on ones genes - one of the most basic primal instincts of humans and life itself generally - involves more than just impregnation and letting the woman do it all after that, at least in the case of homo-sapiens. I can think of at least one reason for this (there's many I guess): women (I assume) towards the end of pregnancy are less able to fend off danger (enemies, animals etc.) as well as feed herself and the child she's carrying... remembering that I'm talking about most of human history when food was scarce and starvation a reality for everyone. I'm assuming if you're reading this then you live in a plentiful enviroment.

So perhaps there's a little more to the story - impregnating and then having your progeny die on you isn't great from an evolutionary/biological standpoint, the genes haven't been passed on.

I don't know about studies on what happens to partners, however I often listen to this show called "Life Matters" on ABC National (www.abc.net.au/rn - intellectual listening... I'm trying to get smarts... plus I'm interested in psychology) - it focuses on many subjects under the broad heading of life in general, particuarly relationships, happiness and family Anyhow, they've run a couple of interviews with people who have done studies showing that women tend to be happiest and most fulfilled in their retirement years relative to any other part of their lives - it being the case that their hetero partners are usually older and women live longer than men it doesn't seem to have much to do with their partners as often times they aren't there.

I often think of societies (well, Western in general) attitude towards older women is pretty bad as far as sexuality and "usefulness" (bad word sorry) goes... so is just as well. I'm not saying I'm any different, I've been shaped in my thinking like anybody else.

Where's Stephanie for comments...