I have two female relatives who are aged 94 or 95. I often wonder why they go on living. One of them simply stares with unblinking eyes without saying anything, the other has difficulty talking or remembering the names of even her children. I've often observed that in most cases, women live much longer than their husbands. 

Perhaps it's because their immunity is strong. Their bodies, having gone through several childbirths, are naturally stronger. Then there is the greater mental stress that men have to undergo. Usually, men are smokers and drinkers, which reduces their life expectancy. 

In my own family, my father died at the age of 73, while my mother lived up to the age of 80. I've had male cousins who died before the age of 70, while their wives are still alive, even though more than ten years have passed since they became widows. Only one uncle of mine lived longer than his wife (my father's only sister).

Of course, it was different fifty years back, when many women would die in childbirth and there were no antibiotics. I remember going to a cemetery in the coastal area of Karachi, where from the headstones on graves of women, one could see that most of them died between the ages of 20 and 30. Advances in medicines and drugs, particularly the easy availability of antibiotics now protects women from early deaths.



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