Josephine Oguntoyinbo & Mercy Odiase
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Researches revealed that women are now living longer than men. Though the available data shows that women did not live longer than the men in the 19th century but the reverse is the case today as the female live much longer than their male counterpart.

To this end, The Hope reporters went round the town to examine the views of medical experts, clergies and other people on this issue.

A medical practitioner, Dr.Tade Adeyemo of Adetade Hospital, Akure affirmed that “Women live longer than men because of some reasons. Men generally are regarded as bread winners of their families, so they are stressed up to meet that responsibilities. They have to provide foods, accommodation, pay school fees, hospital bills, sometimes care for in-laws, so many bills including  social events like engagements, burial, among others .All these are stress men are passing through. Meanwhile, stress is one of the major causes of death.

“Stress can lead to heart problem, high blood pressure, and so on therefore, stress must be avoided .Men are usually expected to protect their families, any threat, assault or hazard to family either the wife or children ,the man is always  ready to stand up against it. For example, if there is a case of robbery in the house, it is expected that the man will confront the robbers and sometimes confronting the robbers who are  armed can lead to the death of a bread winner which is the man, even any armed robber who goes into a house will ask for the husband first, they are always looking for the man.

” In addition, there are lot of jobs that are dangerous because jobs are more hazardous than the other. It is a well known fact that men engage in those dangerous jobs more than women, in the army, let me say forces generally, we have more men than women. So also is  pilot, quarry and minning business. Men are the ones mostly involved in all these,  hardly will you see women do it.

 “Likewise, one thing about sicknesses is that some conditions are preventable and curable when detected early. Women as a result of the care they receive during pregnancy and their frequent  visit to the hospital than men make some of their illnesses to be detected early. There are men who even boasted that they have never been to the hospital in the last 20 to 30 years, meanwhile, the man may be nursing a very dangerous disease and when it comes to the open, it may be too late. What I am saying in essence is that many men do not have the opportunity of detecting their diseases early. There are people who have hypertension and will not check it until they have stroke because they never go to the hospital. They are  busy working ,believing that they are healthy whereas, according to the definition of health, it is not a matter of going around that shows someone is healthy, you have to be examined and  make sure that you are not nursing sickness or that you are not carrying a sickness that is yet to manifest openly.

“Also, women socialise more than men. Socialization is a form of anti stress. It is women you will often see buying occasion clothes (aso ebi) and attending various social functions. They are always eager to attend social functions, This relieve them of stress. They enjoy themselves more often than men in such gathering, that is also an anti-stress.

” Some men have no free period, they work from Monday to Friday likewise Saturdays, dedicating one building or whatever. And Sunday’s too, they still go to work, maybe for one political meeting or one program to another and they do not rest. These does not usually happen to women Therefore, socialisation is a form of anti-stress which also prolong lives.

“Likewise, men are equally more secretive than women, immediately the woman observed something, they cannot hold it, they will cry out to the husbands or relatives ,but when a man is passing through something, he will just laugh  it off, not until it is becoming serious and obvious before he will now open up and sometimes it is a bit late ,they believe they are matured, nothing frightened them. This has  put many men in problems of late detection and diagnosis of conditions thus giving them little or no chance of surviving such conditions.

“Apart from eating good food ,sleeping well ,going for medical check up and doing exercises, there are other things men can do to live long, living long entails  many things, such as healthy lifestyle, avoid multiple partners. To avert liver problem and other related diseases, people must avoid addictive substances, prevention is better than cure.

“Our association have been preaching healthy lifestyle, we will soon start mobile wellness clinics to further boost our campaign. it has started in some countries, instead of waiting for somebody to be sick before coming to the hospital, we want people to come to the hospitals for preventive measures, services, and advise so that rather than waiting for a problem to come up before consulting ,you can nip it in the bud. Wellness is key, everyone needs to have family doctor. People abroad  are on insurance and the insurance companies do not want them to fall sick therefore, they plan periodic examinations for them.

“Every year, they must go for medical check-up and the insurance company pays. Because they know by preventing sickness, it is going to save the insurance companies money. It is like when you insure a vehicle .They will pay for their clients to go for Medicare, so as, to ascertain their health conditions”, he stressed.

Also speaking on the issue, Rev. Mrs Uyi Falayi, said that women last longer than men because women were created from a refined product which is (Adam) and not from dust.

 She said several men indulged in extra marital affairs than women (infidelity) while majority of men are the bread winners who are providing for their families but many women are provided for,”Women are help mate”.

To her, men drinks alcohol and smoke cigarettes which are dangerous to health. “Another reason why women last longer than men is that men do hard jobs like carpentering, bricklaying ,well diggers, tilling ,plumbering among others while women do not engage in any of these.

She also said some men marry more than one wives which make them use more energy to meet up with demands both  economically, and socially, while women take things easy.

“Women also take good care of themselves  than men. They are conscious of healthy tips. They also do medical checkup routinely and also care more about what they eat while some men eat junks”.

In his own view, a medical practitioner, Dr Niyi Ogungbenro explained that there are differences in chromosomes and hormones of men and women which affect longetivity. “Males tend to have more fat surrounding the organs, whereas women have more fat sitting directly under the skin. This difference is determined both by estrogen and the presence of the second X chromosome in females, this is one of the things that determines longetivity because fat surrounding the organs predicts cardiovascular disease.

“Female hormones and the role reproduction are playing have been linked to longetivity in women. Estrogen for example facilitates the elimination of bad cholesterol and thus may offer some protection against heart disease and some other diseases”.

He noted that smoking and drinking habits of some men are also factors that can reduce life expectancy. Generally, biological ,social, and environmental factors contributes greatly.

Also speaking is a clergy ,Pastor Victor Akinola who posited that while women have lower mortality rates, they have higher rates of physical illness, more disabilities and so on but visits hospital than men.”They do not joke with their health”.

“Women probably have biological advantage than men and they tend to engage in fewer behaviors that are detrimental to their health than men. Some males are more violence and risk taking. Women also benefit more in terms of health care and living conditions.

“Despite all these facts, what matter most is God’s grace, he created us and take our lives when he wishes, I belief so much in his grace. May we live long to reap the fruits of our labours”.

Also, Mr Kelly Osaware said women last longer than men because of the type of work men are doing.”For example, a boy of eight years old and above that lives in the village and goes to farm at least four times a week will  no doubt later be older than his age while the girl -child stays at home.

“The type of work men do will not give them time to rest and relax their brain ,men  over stress themselves , that is where all kinds of illness now set in. Men that have more than one wife will want to satisfy all of them .The one drop that goes out of the man takes almost 72 hours to regain itself especially if the man is not eating good foods, things like that reduce immunity,”he opined.

Mrs Bola Olorunwo informed that the exposure of men to hazards in the workplace in an industrial context, alcoholism, smoking, womanizing, and commercial drivers involvement in road accidents make some men not to live longer.

“The burden of taking care of families on some men also created advantage of greater magnitude for women. Although, women now participate massively in the workforce, their roles remain different while their professional activities are on average. (Less prejudicial to their health).

“Beyond the negative behavioral and environmental factors that affect men more than the women, difference in lifestyles is also a factor. Women often relate to their bodies, health, and lives generally in a more different way than men do. Women seek beauty, men seek strength and power thus the woman body remain young and healthy. Women visit their doctors more than men thus promoting their lives,”she stressed.