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June 18, 2026—Picture two average people: a man and a woman born the same year. Despite the fact they're the same age, life expectancy statistics predict she'll outlive him. As of 2023, life expectancy for men was 75.8 years. For women? Closer to 81.1 years.

That gap has puzzled researchers for decades. And there's a twist: Men's and women's lifestyle habits have grown more alike over the years, yet the gap has barely budged.

So what's going on?

It starts with how we live

Part of the answer comes down to everyday choices. Men are less likely to get regular medical care and more likely to engage in risky activities, such as drug use. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has tracked the pattern for years:

• Drinking. From 2015 to 2019, men were about twice as likely as women to drink heavily.
• Smoking. In 2019, 15.5% of men lit up, compared with 13.0% of women.
• Drugs. Men used illegal drugs more often. They were also about twice as likely to die from an overdose.
• Violence. Men died from suicide and homicide three to four times more often than women.
• Checkups. In 2018, men made about 27% fewer trips to the doctor than women.

These behaviors can open the door to chronic disease, overdoses and deadly injuries. The good news: They're risk factors you can control.

But behavior may not be the whole story.

Biology has a say too

For years, experts chalked the life expectancy gap between men and women up to lifestyle alone. A 2026 study in JAMA Network Open tells a more complex story.

Researchers dug into the health and death records of more than 47,000 adults. They factored in mortality risks such as smoking, drinking, diabetes and high blood pressure. And still, males had a 63% greater risk of dying from any cause than females.

In other words, behavior alone can't explain it. The study authors think sex hormones, chromosomes or the differences in immune response may be responsible. No one knows yet what factor matters most. It's likely a mix, and researchers say more digging is needed.

Adjust the levers you can pull

Despite the biological differences, when it comes to what shapes your lifespan, there's still plenty men can do to stay healthy as long as possible. Explore five ways to get started.

Sources

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Health, United States, 2020–2021: Annual Perspective." https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus20-21.pdf.
• JAMA Network. "Study Points to Biology—Not Just Behavior—in the Mortality Gap Between Males and Females." https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2845499.
• JAMA Network Open. "Sex and All-Cause Mortality in the U.S., 1999 to 2018." https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.56299.