Monday, February 04, 2008

The price of long life & happiness

We know, do we not, that
  • Slim people are healthier & live longer lives than people who are fat
  • children of married parents do better than those whose parents are unmarried or are divorced



How securely do we know that people who change their status from the undesirable to the desirable achieve the expected benefits? Or vice versa. Particularly if these changes are externally enforced

Consider the following:

In this country female mortality is lower than male mortality at every age. Women live longer than men. The state of being a man carries a higher relative risk of death

Would a man live longer if he had a sex change operation? Or hormone treatment? Or had his Y chromosome swapped for an X?

And if he did, would it be worth it?

Related post: HRT for 15 year-olds