How, exactly, can you try to keep yourself alive longer? Eat less red meat? Exercise regularly? Menstruate?

Dr Thomas Perls, director of the New England Centenarian Study, spoke today to the International Healthy Ageing and Longevity Conference about old people. In a panel entitled "The Older you get, the Healthier youve been", he pitched his theory. The reason eighty five percent of centenarians are women might have less to do with estrogen and a lot more to do with the bane of womanhood: The Period.

The regular (or dare I say it, periodical) blood loss experienced by women can sometimes lead to iron deficiency, generally regarded as a bad thing. Overall, the average women has a lower iron count than the average man. But even this cloud has a metallic lining.

"Iron is a critical factor in our cell's ability to produce those nasty molecules called free radicals that play an important role in ageing," Dr Perls said outside the conference today.

"It may be as simple as having less iron in your body makes you age more slowly and less susceptible to age-related diseases where free radicals play an important role.

So what can be done against this blatant act of natural discrimination? According to Dr Perls, the solution is simple.

"I menstruate but only every eight weeks. I do that by donating a pint of blood to the hospital.

"A little bit of that is altruism but I'm also actually seriously trying to make myself iron deficient."

Perhaps this is the kind of publicity to fill our blood banks?

_Tab

USA

September 2004

MAR 19, 2005 05:35 PM

Yay for being a girl!

pensquare

Tustin, CA

April 2003

MAR 19, 2005 05:37 PM

Thank "BOB" I get chronic nosebleeds.

daniofthedead

Philadelphia, PA

June 2004

MAR 19, 2005 05:44 PM

wow, what a guy. he wants to menstruate too, how nice.

Cyric

I'm lost

October 2003

MAR 19, 2005 05:44 PM

Menstrate? ackkkk That's gross, can't you just turn it off?

dpk

Seattle, WA

November 2004

MAR 19, 2005 05:50 PM

Dr Thomas Perls: "I menstruate but only every eight weeks."

I have an idea. How about you DON'T bring that up on first dates.

Rx

SUICIDEGIRL

Italy

MAR 19, 2005 06:37 PM

i menstruate every month!!!!

hehehe

bizaro

Cathlamet, WA

January 2004

MAR 19, 2005 07:00 PM

dosent iron deficiency leat to anemia?

mistress

Virgin Islands

February 2005

MAR 19, 2005 07:11 PM

Broken_Gavel said:
Dave: Hi, my name's Dave Foley, and, uh, something you might not know about me is that .. I have a good attitude towards menstruation. That's right, I'm the guy! The guy with a good attitude towards menstruation!

Oh, I know a lot of men are made uncomfortable by this monthly miracle. But not me. No, I embrace it. Embrace it the way the way some men embrace the weekend! Why I anticipate it the way a child anticipates Christmas!

Did you know that, uh, in alot of native Indian cultures, menstruating woman were forced to leave the village, less they're *powerful* magic should overwhelm the Shaman? If I were Shaman, I wouldn't be so competitive. I'd be more open and giving. I'd be a shaman with... a good attitude towards menstruation!

'Cause after all, what is it? a cluster of blood vessels, awaiting a fertilized egg. Providing a safe warm place for that egg to grow. And if a life does not occur, the whole thing is flushed away, and the cycle begins again. Now is that anything to be ashamed of or disgusted by? No, this is the nesting stuff of humanity!

That's why the woman I shall love will be able to menstruate as fully and freely as she desires. Even if her monthly flow should build in intensity to a raging rust colored torrent! An unbridled river of life giving blood flowing from between her legs! An awesome cataract plunging off the edge of our couch. I wouldn't be fazed! No, no, even if coureur de bois would come up stream, battling the rapids, and singing a 'jaunty song'! I would take no offense, rather I would ford across that mighty womanly river, and fetch herbal tea and Pamprin. And then I would mop her brow and admire her fecundity. For I...Have A Good Attitude....Towards MENSTRUATION!

OMG!!! Thats wicked funny!

swingkitten

Portland, OR

OLD SKOOL

MAR 19, 2005 07:20 PM

Ahahahaha, I forgot about that bit.
So beautiful.

The_Incubator

I'm lost

October 2004

MAR 19, 2005 07:56 PM

I've actually donated blood to get rid of extra iron, although I never thought of it as menstruating (that creeps me the fuck out). That blurb doesn't mention it, but there's evidence that differences in iron concentrations are part of the reason men have more problems with heart disease than women.

An interesting part of modern life is we get a hell of a lot of iron from, wait for it, FLOUR. White flour is fortified with iron and other nutrients that are removed when it's milled. Unfortunately the form of iron they use is not so good for you compared to iron you'd get from real food.

Nick

MisterGraves

Portland, OR

November 2003

MAR 19, 2005 09:36 PM

You could always just be vegan.
They generally get a lot less iron than meat-eaters.

Aedara

Portsmouth, RI

January 2005

MAR 19, 2005 10:35 PM

What's that Dave Foley quote from? I know I've heard it before, but the source is alluding me...

clara

MODERATOR

Baltimore, MD

MAR 19, 2005 11:32 PM

bizaro said:
dosent iron deficiency leat to anemia?

I think he's talking about having a lower level of iron, but not a deficiency. That is to say a lower level that remains within the acceptable or normal range.

And to the person who asked, Dave Foley said that on an episode of Kids In The Hall.