Research
Hormonal
Telomere length is sexually dimorphic, with women having longer telomeres than men from birth, which may contribute to their longer lifespan, although the causal relationship is complex and influenced by genetics and stress.
Women naturally have longer telomeres, a marker of cellular aging, which may help explain their longer lifespan. However, telomeres shorten due to stress, genetics, and lifestyle factors. While you cannot change your sex, managing stress and maintaining a healthy lifestyle can help preserve telomere length.
GoodQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
At birth, boys have shorter TLs than girls... which prevails throughout life... As women have a longer lifespan than men, telomeres have been suggested as the causal factor explaining the difference.
Why this rating
Based on large-scale genomic studies and meta-analyses cited.
Source
Sex differences in biological aging with a focus on human studies
Sara Hägg et al. · eLife · 2021
DOI 10.7554/elife.63425
narrative_reviewCited 419×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Women exhibit lower biological aging and greater longevity than men, evidenced by molecular biomarkers, higher mitochondrial function, and longer telomeres, despite experiencing higher frailty and worse health outcomes at the end of life.Good
- Estrogen and other sex hormones play a protective role in mitochondrial function and aging, with women showing higher mitochondrial gene expression and activity compared to men.Good
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