By Dana G. Smith

Copyright brisbanetimes

The loudest voices in the longevity movement tend to be male. But a new subset of expert-influencers – the “menoposse”– has cropped up, with hyper-specific recommendations for what women should do to stay healthy longer. Are male and female bodies really so different that we need tailored guidelines around exercise, nutrition and sleep?

It’s true that hormones play an important role in health. And certain diseases, including osteoporosis and dementia, affect women more than men – a disparity thought to be caused (at least in part) by menopause.

But when it comes to the basic behaviours that keep us healthy, experts say there are more similarities between men and women than there are differences.

“We have learnt a lot about longevity in women, I think,” says Andrea LaCroix, a professor at the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at the University of California, San Diego. “What we haven’t ascertained is that we’re fundamentally different than men in the health behaviours that predict longevity.”