Bribiescas - How men age - what evolution reveals about male health and mortality

HOW MEN AGE

HOW MEN AGE

WhatEVOLUTIONReveals aboutMALE HEALTHandMORTALITY

RICHARD G. BRIBIESCAS

Princeton University Press

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Copyright 2016 by Princeton University Press

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Bribiescas, Richard G., author.

Title: How men age : what evolution reveals about male health and mortality / Richard G. Bribiescas.

Description: Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [2016] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016014947 | ISBN 9780691160634 (hardback : alk. paper)

Subjects: | MESH: Mens Health | Aging | Menpsychology | Biological Evolution | Mortality

Classification: LCC RA777.8 | NLM WA 306 | DDC 613/.04234dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016014947

British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available

This book has been composed in Adobe Garamond Pro and Trade Gothic LT Std

Printed on acid-free paper.

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To my wife, Audrey.
I am fortunate and blessed to grow old with you.

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This project is a follow-up to my first book, published in 2006, Men: Evolutionary and Life History. Upon completion of that work, I felt each chapter could easily be developed into a book of its own. Among the topics that I wished to tackle in greater depth, aging was at the top of the list. The growing amount of gray in my beard and hair likely played a role in stoking my interest. Friends and colleagues encouraged me to pursue this project from its first inception. I would like to thank my editor at Princeton University Press, Alison Kalett. From our first conversation over coffee at the Human Biology Association meetings a few years ago to our discussions in my office at Yale in 2013, she has been a staunch advocate and supporter of this work. Her guidance and encouragement have been indispensable.

Among those who provided deserved and constructive criticism as well as support are Brenda Bradley, Mark Eggerman, Eduardo Fernandez-Duque, Andrew Hill, Marcia Inhorn, Catherine Panter-Brick, Alison Richard, Eric Sargis, Claudia Valeggia, and Brian Wood. Ph.D. students, past and present, have been constant sources of inspiration and energy. Among those are Dorsa Amir, Stephanie Anestis, Erin Burke, Kate Clancy, Jessica Minor, Michael Muehlenbein, and Anglica Torres. Other Ph.D. students and scholars who have made contributions through their dedication and research in the Yale Reproductive Ecology Laboratory include Gary Aronsen, Kendall Arslanian, Melanie Beuerlein, Sofia Carrera, Stephen Chester, Jessamy Doman, Amara Frumkin, Angie Jaimez, Max Lambert, Kristen McLean, Leon Noel, Aalyia Saddrudin, Amelia Sancilio, and Kyle Wiley.

Many have kept me from sailing into intellectually choppy waters or have been at the ready to scrape me off the rocky shore when Ive crashed and floundered; these include Peter Ellison, Irven DeVore, Stephen Stearns, Grazyna Jasienska, Michal Jasienski, Anna Ziomkiewicz-Wichary, Szymone Wichary, Akiko Uchida, Meredith Reiches, Herman Pontzer, Steve McGarvey, James Holland Jones, Magdalena Hurtado, and Peter Gray. Indeed, Jasienska has been instrumental in sharpening my thinking on trade-offs between reproduction and aging as well as being a tremendous friend. Shripad Tulja Tuljapurkar and his coauthors left an indelible impression on my thinking with their seminal paper in 2007 titled Why Men Matter. Peter Ellison has been a steadfast touchstone for advice and intellectual guidance. Kim Hill introduced me to research among the Ache of Paraguay, and for those experiences I will always be thankful. Akiko was a most gracious host for my wife, Audrey, and me during our visit to Japan to study male aging.

I have been very fortunate to be welcomed into the Shuar Life History Project, making many new friends and learning much along the way. They include Larry Sugiyama, Josh Snodgrass, and Felicia Madimenos. Student researchers have been equally awesome and welcoming, including Tara Capon, Alese Colehour, Theresa Gildner, Chris Harrington, Melissa Leibert, Heather Shattuck-Heidorn, Julia Ridgeway-Daz, and Sam Urlacher. In Ecuador, there are many to be thanked, including Oswaldo Mankash, Luzmilla, Estella, and Rosalinda Charo Jempekat, Don Guimo, Bertha Fernandez, Judith and Rosa at the Posada del Maple, Marcia Salinas, and Dr. Jaime Guevara-Aguirre. My former chairs assistant, Ann Minton, firewalled my time so I could squirrel away a few minutes here and there to think and write. My current assistant, Tracy Edwards, has taken up this torch and has been terrific in carving out time in my schedule to write. I am also grateful for the constructive comments of two anonymous reviewers.

Those not yet mentioned but who certainly merit a tip of the hat are Jim Saiers, Lynn Saiers, Marty Wallace, Janice Murphy-Wallace, Christopher Wallace, Gabriel Olszewski, Roger Ngim, and the entire administrative staff in Yale Anthropology as well as my friends and colleagues in the Yale Office of the Provost. Thanks for adding laughter, warmth, and friendship to my own journey of aging.

To my parents and family, especially my sister Loli, I am always grateful for your unflinching enthusiasm and for keeping me grounded in reality. Finally and foremost, I thank Audrey, my wife of over twenty-five years. Thank you for guiding and tolerating me through my own journey of aging with grace and humor. I hope that I have become a bit wiser, kinder, and easier to live with along the way.

Hamden, Connecticut

Suca, Ecuador

December 2015

HOW MEN AGE

CHAPTER 1

A GRAY EVOLUTIONARY LENS

Old age aint no place for sissies.

Bette Davis

I vaguely remember my father having black hair. Being the youngest of four and born to older parents, I recall my most vivid memories to be of him having silver hair and mustache. He was sort of a mix between Clark Gable and Cesar Romero. Lucky Mom. However, as he got older, it wasnt difficult to see changes in the way he looked, spoke, moved, and acted. Except for mild diabetes and minor back issues resulting from a tumble off a ladder, he sported relatively good health for most of his life. By the time I started attending UCLA as an undergraduate, I noticed that some of his tastes and habits had begun to change. Instead of having a beer or two with my uncles, he opted for coffee. He passed on the late-night movie, went to bed a bit earlier, and napped more often. Although he was a modest smoker in his younger years, I dont remember him picking up a cigarette after the age of forty or so. In his later years, he spent much of his time working with my older brother in their workshop. As he occupied himself with one craft project or another, I saw that he was starting to hunch slightly while he worked, as if he was in a slow but constant struggle against gravity. In his sixties, he was much thinner compared to his earlier cinematic appearances in family home movies. I suspect much of his weight control was the result of my mothers close attention to his diet because of his diabetes. However, I am certain he was simply declining as a result of aging.