Marisa Micallef wonders why Maltese women are not managing to outlive men by as many years as most of our fellow Europeans and why Swedish men live so long.

Perhaps I may have the temerity, but not without trepidation, to suggest a simple explanation that appears to have eluded your attractive and obviously intelligent correspondent (anyone who reads Eurostat statistics and The Economist is clearly no Mills and Boon lady).

I recognise that challenging an intelligent woman (or an unintelligent one for that matter) is potentially pointless, painful and/or perilous since one is unlikely to win, defeat is humiliating and there are often undesirable consequences. However my personal experience is that foolishness rather than wisdom has increased with my advancing years so here goes.

It is generally known that stress has a negative impact on longevity (put pithily, “stress is a killer”). The stereotype Swedish woman is sexually liberated and active. Thus Swedish men presumably enjoy an active sex life resulting in the production of dopamine and endorphins – great stress relievers. Hence their longevity.

But what about Maltese women? Is it a coincidence that Malta is the only country without divorce? Is marriage for women a life-shortening (but life-long) sentence of penal servitude (lest there be a phonetic misunderstanding I mean penal as in prison rather than an anatomical reference) full of stress with not enough dopamine? Or is it one of life-shortening exhausting, unbridled passion and pleasure?

Much as I would like to satisfy your correspondent’s apparent love of statistics, I have not felt it prudent to conduct research among Maltese married ladies as to which explanation is the more prevalent.

Perhaps some small vestiges of wisdom remain.

Colin Best

SANNAT

PS Or could it just possibly be the long-term depressing and stressful effect of the low esteem in which women are held in Malta?

As if.