Why can’t a woman be more like a man?
Men are so honest, so thoroughly square;
Eternally noble, historic’ly fair;
Who, when you win, will always give your back a pat.
Well, why can’t a woman be like that?
Henry Higgins’ famous inquiry remains sadly unanswered, but a recent study of the general health of people living in Massachusetts suggests that men would be much better off, health wise at least, if they were more like women. The Boston Globe reports that in category after category, the annual survey of more than 21,000 adults conducted by the state’s Department of Public Health found that women do a better job of taking care of
their health. They smoke less and drink less, and they’re less likely
to be overweight. They eat more fruits and vegetables. They have their
cholesterol tested more regularly. The Globe reports that the statewide survey jibes with broad national trends as well as the experience of doctors and public health specialists, and cites a 2003 study in the American Journal of Public Health reporting
that among the 15 leading causes of death in the United States, men
have a higher death rate than women in all categories except for
Alzheimer’s disease.
Read more in the Boston Globe.