The real reason women live longer than men

The view that women are the fairer sex might just be a load of rubbish, as scientists have confirmed that men are regularly outlived by the women in their lives.

Now before you go and make all sorts of witty assumptions as to why this might be the case, science has stepped in to put the kibosh on it.

It all has to do with the Y chromosome and the fact that in some men it starts to disappear from their blood cells as they age, which ultimately leads to a shorter life span.

The Y chromosome is what makes men men and it is present in almost every cell in the body.

Previous research has shown that if you’re a man and your Y chromosome starts performing that disappearing magic trick you are also at an increased risk of suffering a range of cancers and now science can also reveal that there is a link to the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

The study was carried out by researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden and involved more than 3,200 men aged between 32 and 96 years.

The Y chromosome was found to be missing from the white blood cells involved in the immune system in about one in five men, and the older they were the more common it was.

It’s absence has the potential to leave the body vulnerable to illnesses from dementia to cancer.

Reasons normally given for the gender gap in life expectancy tend to range from increased stress levels for men, a difference in hormones, men are more likely to lead a poor lifestyle, and that generally men will be bigger than women.

Do you think learning about this link between the Y chromosome and dementia could lead to new treatments? What are your thoughts on women living longer than men?