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    How Men Age: What Evolution Reveals about Male Health and Mortality
    How Men Age: What Evolution Reveals about Male Health and Mortality
    How Men Age: What Evolution Reveals about Male Health and Mortality
    Ebook276 pages4 hours

    How Men Age: What Evolution Reveals about Male Health and Mortality

    By Richard G. Bribiescas

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    A groundbreaking book that examines all aspects of male aging through an evolutionary lens

    While the health of aging men has been a focus of biomedical research for years, evolutionary biology has not been part of the conversation—until now. How Men Age is the first book to explore how natural selection has shaped male aging, how evolutionary theory can inform our understanding of male health and well-being, and how older men may have contributed to the evolution of some of the very traits that make us human.

    In this informative and entertaining book, renowned biological anthropologist Richard Bribiescas looks at all aspects of male aging through an evolutionary lens. He describes how the challenges males faced in their evolutionary past influenced how they age today, and shows how this unique evolutionary history helps explain common aspects of male aging such as prostate disease, loss of muscle mass, changes in testosterone levels, increases in fat, erectile dysfunction, baldness, and shorter life spans than women. Bribiescas reveals how many of the physical and behavioral changes that we negatively associate with male aging may have actually facilitated the emergence of positive traits that have helped make humans so successful as a species, including parenting, long life spans, and high fertility.

    Popular science at its most compelling, How Men Age provides new perspectives on the aging process in men and how we became human, and also explores future challenges for human evolution—and the important role older men might play in them.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPrinceton University Press
    Release dateAug 23, 2016
    ISBN9781400883264
    How Men Age: What Evolution Reveals about Male Health and Mortality

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    • 4/5
      With all the health scares, articles, studies and scandals, it is good to be able to step back and look at the overall picture of mankind, and in particular, men. Richard Bribiescas has provided a nicely rounded overview, that tells us we really don’t have a handle on aging yet – but here’s what we think.-The symptoms of aging seem to be similar in all mammals (which is not much comfort as there is no species to model or aspire to). -Higher metabolic rates and constant oxidative stress in men leads to shorter lifespans than women who show surges of oxidative stress (pregnancy/childbirth/lactation) but lower overall metabolisms.-Death is U-shaped. There is huge risk of death after birth. It lessens and flattens in the prime of life, then rockets again as we age. -Hormone therapy for men might help them bulk up, but it also might be an outsized strain on aging organs to maintain that bulk. In Briebiescas’ analogy, at some point Ferraris can become too expensive to maintain.-Testosterone suppresses immune functions in men, leading to more infections and autoimmune diseases. Higher levels of it are a potential predictor of prostate cancer when considered with greater energy intake, western diet, sedentary lifestyle and higher testosterone levels (so taking it as a supplement might not be the best choice).-Fat is far less demanding to maintain than muscle, so muscle gives way to fat when it is no longer needed to find a mate.-Gray hair is a result of oxidative stress and lifelong doses of testosterone and DHT “a sort of super testosterone.” How Men Age is Darwinian; Briebiescas rationalizes everything that happens to a male in terms of reproductive attraction and natural selection. As he points out, it also means 42% of Americans won’t believe any of it, since that many deny evolution.The book is remarkably ambivalent. Very often his answer is “This is unclear.” Numerous claims begin with Or it may be that, Most likely, Possibly, Alternatively, Perhaps, There is evidence to suggest, or It would seem… Still, it is valuable to know men aren’t screwing up by not taking hormones, eating rare animal gizzards and pretending they are 25 again. And they’re not missing out on the miracle life extender, because there isn’t one. The bottom line is get married and stay married. Have female children and enjoy “the wonderful absurdity of life.”David Wineberg

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    How Men Age - Richard G. Bribiescas

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