Men Die Before Women Because They’re Flirting SO Hard
Ever heard a single friend groan about how he is destined to “die alone?’’
Well, he may not die alone, but the effort to find companionship might kill him.
A new study published in the journal Functional Ecology looked at the fruit fly and the toll its mating habits took on its lifespan. On average, the flies have a life expectancy of 35 days. When placed in a “sexually stimulating’’ environment (one lady fly was in the vicinity), male flies died seven days sooner than the females. Seven days may not seem like much to you or me, but it’s a significant chunk of time when you only live for a month.
In the “relaxed’’ sexual environment, flies of both sexes led full, (relatively) lengthy lives.
But how does a fly flirt?
Like any hot-blooded American man, of course.
They sing, they dance, they release “scents.’’ It’s exhausting.
Kind of like this:
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So what does this mean for humans?
The average lifespan of the American man is 76, while American women live to be 81. Researchers believe the fly test may reflects the effects that natural selection processes have on human life expectancies. One researcher wrote in Scientific American that we may attribute this discrepancy to the “biological advantages’’ women experience, such as a second X chromosome, as well as social factors like “being more inclined to take care of their bodies and to prolong their lives.’’
Or maybe, as our buzzy friends suggest, women just don’t have to try as hard.
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