How to Live Longer If You Are a Female

As females age, many difficult social problems often come into picture. When the demographics of older women are compared to their similar aged male counterparts, older women are more likely to be single, rely on others for financial and emotional support, and are more likely to be institutionalized.

It is a statistical fact that women outlive men; after the age of 85, about two and one half times as many women comprise the 85 and older demographic. This is the cause for the interesting demographic statistics talked about in the previous paragraph. Of those living in institutions, many of them are single women. Those who take care of the older 85 demographic in institutions also tend to be predominantly women; these institutional employees often spend about 3.5 to 4.5 hours each day with these elderly individuals. If care is provided by those in the home, many of these women need to cut short their daily activities to help facilitate the lives of the elderly women they take care of.

Abuse is not an uncommon occurrence in institutional and domestic environments where elderly people are taken are of. Typically, the abuse faced by elderly individuals is the result of neglect and not physical or emotional trauma. Financially speaking, many older women are simply incapable of changing their situation to escape abuse. The median income of elderly women in the early 1990s was approximately half that of males in the same age demographic. Nearly twice as many women over 85 live below the poverty line than men of similar age.

African American women are at an advantage compared to their Caucasian counterparts. Statistically speaking, black women can expect to live about 2 to 3 years longer than their white counterparts.