While 70 year old men have a 70 year old heart, women their age have a heart that is more like a 20 year old heart
Economist, Haaretz, News and Walla!
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Women's life expectancy is longer than men's. It may not be fair, but it's the truth. In developed countries, the average difference is five or six years. In the poor world the gap is smaller, due to the risks involved in giving birth. But there is no place where this gap does not exist. The question is, why?
This question can be answered on two levels. An evolutionary biologist would say that the reason for the difference in life expectancy lies in the role of older women in helping to raise their grandchildren - a role that provides them with "evolutionary points", which are reflected in additional years of life. The men, on the other hand, are worn out when competing for the right to produce offspring in the first place. It is assumed that this insight is correct, but it has no contribution whatsoever to the medical profession. However, a group of researchers at John Moores University in Liverpool, UK, recently came up with a medically useful answer. The answer is, while 70-year-old men have 70-year-old hearts, women their age have hearts that are more like the hearts of 20-year-olds.
David Goldspink, who holds the title of professor of cellular and molecular research in the field of sports science, and his colleagues at John Morse University, tested 250 volunteers between the ages of 18 and 80 for two years. All volunteers were healthy but physically inactive. The main finding of the team was that the function of the male heart weakens by 25%-20% between the ages of 18 and 70, while the function of the female heart remains as it was at a young age.
The heart function of each volunteer was measured before the start of physical training, and during the peak effort phase when training on a sports treadmill. In particular, the researchers measured the blood flow rate and blood pressure. The subjects also underwent an ultrasound scan to measure the size of their heart chambers, the thickness of the heart's muscular wall and the efficiency of pumping and emptying actions.
The researchers discovered that between the ages of 20 and 70, men lose a third of the contractile muscle cells in the heart wall. During that time, the women hardly lose any contracted cells. There is a strong relationship between the number of these cells and the heart's function. The unsolved mystery is why men lose these cells, and women do not.
A previous theory regarding the gap between the life expectancy of women and men was that the female sex hormone, estrogen, has a protective effect on the heart. But Goldspink rejects this idea, saying that there is no evidence that the female heart weakens after menopause, when estrogen levels drop precipitously. On the other hand, estrogen has been found to have a beneficial effect on blood vessels. In the study it was found that the blood flow to the muscles of the limbs and the skin surrounding them decreases with age, in both sexes. The changes in the structure of the blood vessels occur earlier in men, but the women "catch up" with them shortly after menopause.
Despite all this, there is also good news for men. In another similar study, the team found that the hearts of veteran male athletes were just as strong as those of 20-year-old college students who were not physically active. Can men regain good heart function after a lifetime of low physical activity and an unhealthy diet? Is it ever too late to start exercising? "I think the answer is no," says Goldspink, "the health benefits that can be derived from proper exercise are recommended for everyone, regardless of age." So if you are men of an advanced age, go ahead - to the gym!
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