- Menopause - the enemy of women?
- Aging and skin condition
- Skeletal system and growth
- Silhouette and muscles
- Aging and our habits
The life expectancy of women is greater than that of men. However, in some respects they age faster. While we undoubtedly all change over the years, both genders respond differently to changes in our bodies over time. The menopause, the tendency to stimulants, or a weakness for tanned skin can all contribute to the differences in the aging process of men and women. In which authorities can you notice the greatest changes? Is it possible to delay the negative effects of the passage of time?
Over the centuriesthe average human life span has rarely exceeded 50 years . Never in history have we had such a large arsenal of drugs, therapies and more and more detailed diagnostic tests as we do today. The achievements of technology and medicine clearly translate into the length of our lives.The average woman in the European Union lived on average 83 years in 2022, for men the limit was around 78 years .
Despite such an impressive result for the human species, one thing is certain - we all age. It is an inevitable property of living organisms, which slow down the rate of metabolism and repair processes with age. Certain individual characteristics of sex, however, determine quite clear differences between how a specific organ will "wear out" in women and men.
Menopause - the enemy of women?
One of the main causes of changes in the female body over time is the declining concentration of female hormones. After the age of 45, the function of the ovaries that produce oestrogens begins to gradually decline, which in turn leads to a physiological stop of the menstrual cycle. This period is called the menopause or menopause and is often accompanied by numerous symptoms, for example:
- hot flashes,
- headaches,
- mood swings,
- sleep disturbance.
It is even said that women who enter menopause lose the so-called The "umbrella" of hormones, which is why many changes take place in her body.
Estrogens affect not only the maintenance of reproductive functions, but also the metabolism and the characteristics of many different tissues of the body. They answer, inter alia, after:
- regulation of lipid metabolism - cholesterol synthesis, productionlipoproteins and phospholipids,
- calcium metabolism - estrogens promote the deposition of calcium in bones, also stimulate the growth of bones and cartilage,
- better absorption of proteins from food - used, among others during tissue reconstruction,
- stimulating the production of blood plasma proteins, supporting the thyroid and adrenal hormones,
- stimulate the synthesis of fibrinogen - a factor necessary in the final stage of blood clotting.
Probably the protective effect of estrogens is an evolutionary mechanism ensuring vitality and maximum efficiency for a woman as a potential mother. With the extinction of the procreative function, keeping the body in top condition becomes less important from a biological point of view.
It should be noted that the laws of nature have been guided by centuries of extending the species and providing food for offspring. Aesthetic considerations, not related to, for example, the selection of a partner, reproduction and survival, have always remained of secondary importance.
Men, usually after the age of 50, also go through a transition period between puberty and old age, called andropause. Although the accompanying changes are similar to those in women with declining levels of hormones (including testosterone and growth hormone), they do not lead to a complete extinction of fertility.
Depending on genetic predisposition or lifestyle - male menopause can be very mild and is often much less severe and visible than its female counterpart.
Aging and skin condition
The skin is one of the major organs where the greatest differences in the rate of aging between men and women manifest themselves. Although this organ is exposed to air pollution every day, changes inside the body significantly influence the skin structure.
The bad news for the fair sex is that women's skin is the "litmus test" of the hormonal storm associated with menopause and that it ages faster. Declining estrogen levels reduce the production of collagen, hyaluronic acid and epidermal lipids (ceramides), which are the main building blocks of the skin.
It has been proven that in the first 5 years of menopause, the skin loses up to 30% of its collagen reserves .
The activity of dividing the epidermis cells and the degree of its natural regeneration as well as the activity of the sebaceous glands also decrease. The skin of menopausal women becomes:
- much thinner,
- dry,
- flabby and less flexible,
- more vulnerable towater loss.
These changes lead to the formation of more wrinkles (both mimic and gravitational) and drooping eyelids. Less skin tension on the face also changes its oval - and on the sides there may appear folds, sometimes called "hamsters".
Men's skin is as much as 25% naturally thicker than women's skin, it also contains more collagen and elastin. Due to the less rapid fluctuations in the hormones, the content of the skin's building blocks is gradually lowered. So men's skin ages much later.
Additionally, there are more sebaceous glands in the men's skin. The sebum produced by them is a natural protection against UV radiation, bacteria and environmental pollution.
Wrinkles in men often appear later than in women. Men also use solariums much less often, the negative effect of which on skin aging has been widely proven.
Skeletal system and growth
The female skeleton loses almost twice as much minerals with age as the male skeleton. The changes resulting from the decrease in the amount of estrogen produced during menopause disturb the processes of calcium regulation and osteoblast remodeling.
Scientific research shows that after the age of 50, women lose up to 8% of their bone mass annually for 10 years. Although the degree of loss is gradually decreasing, it has been calculated that by the age of 70 women may lose more than half of their original bone mass!
Women are therefore particularly vulnerable to osteoporosis - an insidious disease that leads to a dramatic reorganization of the bone structure and its excessive fragility. Symptoms of untreated osteoporosis can include:
- back pain,
- pains in long bones (e.g. when carrying around shopping),
- lowering height and characteristic rounding of the back,
- minor trauma fractures (a fracture of the femoral neck is characteristic).
In men, osteoporosis is relatively rare, and the risk of bone fractures after the age of 50 is even 4 times lower. Small changes in the structure of the skeletal system also translate into a slight decrease in height. Men over 75 are on average 3.5 cm shorter than in youth. In women, the difference in height is greater and reaches even 5 cm.
Silhouette and muscles
The aging of the body is also reflected in the change in the shape of the figure, in particular the body composition and the proportion of adipose tissue. Women tend to have physiologically more adipose tissue in their youth than men -about 20 to 25% of body weight.
For comparison - the body of an average 30-year-old contains 15 to 20% fat. However, these values are a very individual feature, depending on the diet and activity.
In women, adipose tissue is distributed mainly in the hormone-dependent area - that is, the area of the hips and breasts. With age, when estrogen levels decline and male hormones - androgens - increase, adipose tissue begins to build up in the abdominal area.
Menopausal changes also affect the gradual loss of muscle tissue. Worse protein absorption from the diet and decreased synthesis of collagen and many other plasma proteins lead to muscle atrophy.
In women over the age of 75, the decrease in total muscle mass may be up to 40% of the initial mass, while in men - up to 25%. Regular exercise is a recipe for muscle loss and weakness.
Regardless of gender - both typically aerobic training (such as cycling, swimming or Nordic walking) or strength exercises with a load have a great effect on oxygenation of tissues and their slower aging.
Aging and our habits
The differences in aging between individuals are influenced by many factors, and it is not necessarily gender or individual genetics.
Our everyday habits and behaviors very often determine the later functioning of internal organs, skin and bones.
Factors that definitely accelerate aging are:
- smoking (generating free radicals and toxins - affects the deterioration of the condition of the skin, digestive system, lungs, and accumulates neoplastic processes),
- regular drinking of alcohol (burdens and damages the liver and kidneys, impairs the immune system, brain and cognitive functions),
- using a solarium (UV radiation and free radicals damage the skin and generate neoplastic processes),
- regular consumption of sugar and sweetened products (leads directly to obesity, chronic inflammation and weakening of tissue regeneration processes),
- consuming large amounts of caffeine (can dehydrate the body)
- lack of physical effort (weakens the regenerative processes of tissues, impairs immune functions, leads to obesity).
Although women and men age differently, apart from physiological hormonal changes, the overall biological processes are very much influenced by factors that we can shape ourselves.
It is worth noting that many risky habits are strongly related to a given gender. The fact that men smoke more oftenwhether they consume alcohol and women visit solariums, it directly translates into specific changes in the body.
Fortunately, many of these changes can be stopped or at least delayed. That is why it is so important - regardless of age - to take care of diet and physical activity and to give up stimulants. In this way, we will rejuvenate our body by up to several years!