Do Dads Have Worse Heart Health But Live Longer?

In time for Father's Day, Josh is asked to fact check a new study.

The podcast has 5 stars on Apple Podcasts and Spotify! Thank you to all sharing, subscribing, rating, reviewing, etc.

Since the show launched just weeks ago, I’ve received a lot of questions from listeners and stories they want me to discuss. So Episode 10 is devoted to answering several. Since they tackle different topics, I’ll break these up into separate newsletters. If you’re here for links about other topics in the episode — Hamas numbers, claims “the science is clear,” concussions among football players (with a clip from NFL icon Ronnie Lott), and a viral story about a man who was unfairly sent to jail, subscribe so you’ll receive all the newsletters!

With Father’s Day coming up, I’ll start with this one: A study that says dads have worse heart health — but also live longer than non-fathers. As you may know, fact checking claims about modern dads is a big part of what I do. The media get a lot of claims wrong. See joshlevs.com/dadfacts.

But this new study, which was covered by several major outlets, does seem to be legit. It’s from Northwestern University and the Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. Researchers tracked data about nearly 3,000 men of different ethnic backgrounds and found that “older age was worse for fathers compared to nonfathers. Study participants’ heart health was rated based on their diet, physical activity, smoking habits, weight, blood pressure, and level of lipids and glucose in their blood.”

As I explain in the episode, this does not mean that we can now say, “The science is clear, dads have worse heart health.” It’s one study, but strong enough that it should inspire further studies. As one of the authors, Dr. John James Parker, said in a news release, “We really need to study fathers as a unique population and track men’s health outcomes as they become fathers.” Yes! I’ve been saying for years.

The struggles of dads get far too little attention, including in the media — which, for many years, generally equated parenting with motherhood.

This study also noted that dads, overall, live longer than non-fathers. How can both of these findings co-exist, and what are the reasons behind these differences? In the episode, I explain what we do and don’t know.

Dads often suffer in silence from a wide range of illnesses, and don’t get help. Media attention can go a long way in waking up the country to these secret struggles, and helping to bring men out of the shadows so they can heal.

This Father’s Day, tell any great dads you know: Over the next year, commit to taking care of yourself.

And if you are a great dad yourself, then Happy Father’s Day!

Big love,

JL