Neutered male sheep live longer? Does the same happen in humans?

It is an indisputable fact that the average life expectancy of men is lower than that of women. So why is the life expectancy of men shorter than that of women?

This is a difficult question to answer. Although scientists have given many different guesses, there is still no final conclusion, because this result is not the result of a single factor, but the result of multiple factors working together. So let's change the question. Is there any way to extend the life of men? Maybe there is. Just look at animals and you will know. Males have a shorter lifespan than females. This is not unique to humans. Other animals also have the same phenomenon. Of course, the other animals mentioned here mainly refer to "domestic animals." Because almost no wild animal can die of old age.

Once the physical condition of herbivores declines, they will be eaten by carnivores, and once the physical condition of carnivores declines, they will starve to death because they cannot hunt.

Since most wild animals do not die naturally, the difference in lifespan between males and females is not obvious. However, it is different for domestic animals. Non-food livestock usually die of old age, so humans have known their lifespans for thousands of years. For this reason, New Zealand farmers discovered early on that the lifespan of male sheep is significantly shorter than that of female sheep. The wisdom of the working people is immeasurable. In order to collect more wool for a few years, New Zealand farmers soon discovered a way to help male sheep prolong their lives, which is to sterilize them. Generally speaking, the lifespan of sheep is only 10 years, but after sterilization, their lifespan can be extended to about 15 years.

The most famous sheep in New Zealand's history is Shrek, who escaped from the farm shortly after undergoing sterilization surgery and was accidentally found six years later.

The recovered Shrek continued to live happily on the farm and lived until he was 16 years old. He was finally euthanized by the farm. Shrek is a "famous sheep", but he is not an isolated case. Every New Zealander knows that sterilized sheep live longer. This phenomenon eventually attracted the attention of scientists. In order to study the relationship between sterilization surgery and the life span of sheep, scientists also created an epigenetic clock. Its basic principle is to measure the aging rate of organisms through methyl groups. Simply put, the slower the clock goes, the slower the aging rate.

Through testing, scientists found that the epigenetic clock of male sheep ticked significantly faster than that of female sheep. However, if the male sheep were sterilized, their DNA methylation patterns would become similar to those of female sheep, which means that their epigenetic clocks became equally fast.

Later, scientists used the same method to test more than 200 wild species and found similar characteristics. This makes us very curious. Humans are also mammals. Can human males also extend their lifespans through similar methods? Scientists have counted the records kept by some countries and found that the lifespan of eunuchs in ancient times was indeed longer than that of ordinary men. In particular, after analyzing a relatively complete record in South Korea, it was found that the average lifespan of eunuchs in the same period was 19 years longer than that of royal family members.

Scientists have also found that there is a close connection between the time when sterilization surgery is performed and life expectancy.

Whether it is sheep or eunuchs in ancient times, sterilization surgery is performed relatively early, so it can play a role in prolonging life. If it is too late, the effect is not obvious. In medieval Europe, there were castrati singers, and they were sterilized much later than eunuchs, so from the records, their life span was not significantly extended. So why can sterilization surgery extend the life span of men? Scientists believe that the difference in life span between men and women is mainly due to the male hormones in the body. Some studies have shown that male hormones represented by testosterone will weaken the body's immunity to a certain extent and accelerate the aging of the body, especially affecting the health of the heart.

When men undergo traditional sterilization surgery, such as testicular removal, the male hormone level in their bodies decreases, so their lifespan is extended.

Of course, all of this is just an inference based on existing research, and it is not the final conclusion. However, even if this inference is correct, this method of helping men prolong their lives is probably difficult to accept, because it will make people no longer complete and will also affect the quality of life. However, this does not mean that scientists' research is meaningless. Through research, we can have a deeper understanding of the mechanism of aging, which is still of auxiliary significance in helping humans to increase their lifespan. After all, the Hayflick limit points out that the human lifespan limit is about 150 years old, and the current average human lifespan is still far from this limit. Even the longest-lived person certified by Guinness is only 134 years old, so there is still much room for improvement in our lifespan.

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