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Outlive
Eilgen - Outlive
Shorter people may live longer than most—and the reasons why may surprise you
It is widely believed, and backed by science, that women outlive men, but there is new talk of the role your height might play in longevity — specifically, shorter people may live longer than taller people.
The discussion has been picking up on social media, which can be a pretty difficult place to decipher fact from fiction.
To get to the facts, CNBC Make It talked to two knowledgeable longevity experts with years of experience: Jean-Marie Robine, an expert demographer who studies the relationship between health and longevity, and David Sinclair, co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research at Harvard Medical School.
Here are their theories about why shorter people may live longer than their opposites.
Being short used to be bad for longevity, but the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction
Many years ago, “people were much shorter than [they are] today,” because they were often poorly nourished during the first year of their lives, says Robine.
“They weren’t able to develop properly and they were not able to fight against infectious diseases,” he adds. “Historically, at the population level, we [were] associating short size with poor development during the first year of life, and with a high level of mortality.”
But currently, for people who are shorter, “if you have the best of what is possible, in terms of wealth and education, the shorter are living longer than the taller,” says Robine.
When you are taller, you need more cell replications to fill your body, and this can just exhaust you faster.
Based on data of millions of deaths, a negative correlation was found between greater height and longevity, according to a study published in Elsevier in 2003.
Researchers also discovered that “shorter, smaller bodies have lower death rates and fewer diet-related chronic diseases, especially past middle age.” The lifespans of shorter people appear to be longer than their taller counterparts, the paper says.
Of over 2,500 Finnish athletes, all of whom were men, cross-country skiers were shorter by about six inches and typically lived almost seven years longer than basketball players. And when comparing men who served in the Italian army, a study found that soldiers shorter than around 5-foot-4 lived two years longer than their taller comrades.
The biological reason for this is likely that, “when you are taller, you need more cell replications to fill your body, and this can just exhaust you faster,” says Robine.
Women are in the ideal height range and can withstand more hardship
Clearly, research shows that “height matters. The smaller you are, whether you’re a dog or a human, means that you’ll live longer inversely,” says Sinclair, co-founder and scientific advisor of Tally Health, a biotech company that aims to improve health span and extend longevity. “It turns out that the height of women perfectly matches their increased longevity.”
The average height of women ranges by location. On average, American women over 20 are 63.7 inches tall, or about 5-foot-4, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Some sources, like Our World in Data, estimate that the average height for women on a global scale, is 159.5 cm, which is around 5-foot-3. The big difference between the height of men and women is due to differences in levels of the growth hormone, Sinclair says, which is much higher in women. “It is known that growth hormone levels do influence longevity,” he adds. It turns out that the height of women perfectly matches their increased longevity.
Yet, height isn’t the only reason women live longer.
Robine’s hypothesis for why women live longer is simply this: “Women are more resistant to mortality [and] to death than men because they are just resisting more to difficulties.”
Women may also feel responsible for not only their own lives, but also for their children’s lives, he adds. With this in mind, “they have to be stronger,” and hang on a bit longer than men. Women are more resistant to mortality [and] to death than men because they are just resisting more to difficulties.
“As long as a man is staying healthy without disability, his level of mortality is the same as the level of a woman,” Robine says. ”[But] men are poorly surviving if they are not in very good health. And women are much more resistant to ‘not perfect’ health.”
Robine finds this fascinating: “It’s just so amazing women are living longer because it is well-known and well-acknowledged that our societies are not treating women very well, so we would expect the opposite.”
注释：
outlive: v
表示" 比...活得长；比...经久"，means "live longer than"，如：He outlived his wife by three years. 他比妻子多活了三年。
decipher: v
表示"译解；辨认"，means "convert code into ordinary language"，如：He could decipher military signals. 他能破译军事信号。
demographer: n
表示"人口统计学家"，means "a scientist who studies the growth and density of populations and their vital statistics"，如：Professor Antonio Golini is a demographer at the University of Rome.罗马大学安东尼奥教授是位人口统计学家。
pendulum: n
表示"钟摆"，means " weight hung on a cord from a fixed point so that it can swing freely"，如：The pendulum swings with great regularity. 钟摆很有规律地摆动着。
replication: n
表示" 复制"，means "the act of making copies"，如：The replication operation failed. 复制操作失败。
中文简要说明：
国外网友近期流行一种说法，指出矮个子可能更长寿，专家表示，过去确实有研究得出矮个儿更长命的结论，一个可能原因是，身高愈高的人，身体需要进行更多细胞复制的过程，可能更容易消耗身体。
美媒CNBC报导，根据2003年一份追踪数百万死亡案例的研究，身高愈高与寿命呈现负相关。研究指出：愈矮、体型愈小的人，死亡率愈低，尤其在中年过后，罹患与饮食相关的慢性病机率愈低。另一份意大利军队研究发现，身高矮于约165cm的士兵，平均寿命比更高的战友多2年。
钻研健康与寿命的法国人口统计学家罗宾（Jean-Marie Robine）表示，上述现象的生物学可能解释是: 当身高愈高，身体需要进行更多的细胞复制过程，这个过程会更快耗尽人体。
哈佛大学医学院葛伦衰老生物学研究中心（Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research）主任辛克莱（David Sinclair）表示，研究显示身高确实有影响，他说女性的身高与较长的寿命恰恰相符。
根据「用数据看世界」（Our World In Data）数据预测，全球女性平均身高为159.5cm，辛克莱指出：男性、女性身高有别，主要在于体内生长激素含量不同。女性生长激素较多，而生长激素含量又会影响寿命。
不过生长激素分泌量较高并不是女性普遍较长寿的唯一原因，罗宾认为，女性较男性长命，其中原因在于女性更能抵抗困难，女性可能也会认为对孩子有责任，必须变得更强壮，因此能比男性撑得更久。
他说只要男性保持身体健康、没有行动不便等问题，死亡率也会和女性差不多，不过他也观察到：一旦男性健康状况不佳，生存能力就会变得很差，但是女性即便处在不佳的身体状态下，抵抗能力仍较顽强。
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