Schadenfreude

According to Factfinder, for "men and women aged 25 to 54, the number of men for each 100 women in 2000 was 99. Among older adults, the male-female ratio continued to fall rapidly, as women increasingly outnumbered men. For people 55 to 64, the male-female ratio was 92 to 100, but for those 85 and over, there were only 41 men for every 100 women."

Wow! Forty one men to 100 women for those over age 85? In 2003 "Life expectancy went up for men from 73.4 years to 74.4 and for women from 79.7 to 79.8" and death's associated with heart disease and stroke are decreasing (also good for men) so men are gaining (as are women but at a decreasing rate compared to men) but something still appears to be happening to males between 65 and their early eighties.  Could it be that "flexibility, resiliency and connections protect women against early death while men are more often wiped out by their own rigidity, aggression and denial of feelings as this article suggests?  This statement makes me angry to the point I want to punch the author and no I don't have rigidity issues or problems with aggression.  Just kidding around, I suppose men are generally less flexible and more aggressive but does this lead to such a great difference in life expectancy once you reach age 65?  I doubt it but still have no solid answers for this male-female ratio difference.  The unprovable answer to me is goals. Those without goals die sooner.          

So what are the non gender odds of death? The real culprits are still Heart Disease and Cancer. Odds of being Legally Executed is just 1 in 58,618 over your life span, seems much too likely but I'm probably safer living far away from Texas. 

So what can you do to extend your life?  Wear a safety belt? Live in a ranch style home to avoid using steps? Don't drive a motorcycle own a gun or smoke and live close to a hospital to avoid air ambulances and all the while don't take yourself so seriously and eat your green vegetables?   

 I've been alive for 504 months and in an other 504 months I'd be fast approaching 85 years old.  I wonder what the current ratio of 41 men to 100 women will be in 2048? I wonder if I'll be alive to observe it? The odds say no but ya gotta have a goal and for me it's observing the male-female ratio in 2048.      

The less animals eat the longer they live, could it be possible for humans to extent their lives by reducing caloric intake? The Economist says a soon to be published Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism Marc Hellerstein suggests this very fact. Suggesting that restricting calories reduces cell division and thus increases life's longevity. Now that researchers have found a way to measure cell division via water. Not just any water but heavy water. Heavy water contains an extra neutron so while it behaves the same chemically as normal water, the mice fed a diet with heavy water can have the amount of DNA measured by extracting the DNA and weighing it. And by inference they can identify how much cell division had occurred. A reduction of just 5% of calories can result in significant gains in longevity. But restrictive caloric intake should occur with regular fasting. Turns out many animals tend to binge and starve on regular cycles. Sounds biblical.

Vitamin D in the form of sun light including severe sun burns can reduce prostate cancer.

"Increased exposure to sunlight or greater intake of vitamin D has been found to reduce the risk of five common cancers in case/control studies. These are cancer of the colon, breast, ovary, prostate and lymphoma. Additional evidence based on differences in incidence of cancer in northern versus southern states of America have found that some 16 or more different types of cancer are less common in the sunny south.

For example, the risk of prostate cancer, which causes some 10,000 deaths a year in England, has been found to be reduced by sunbathing and by foreign holidays. And sunburn in childhood is even associated with a reduced risk of prostate cancer, presumably because people who become sunburnt have greater exposure to the sun."

Here's another reason to move away from the cold Wisconsin winters and move south!