In Massive Austrialian Study of the Obvious, Women Stay Hotter When Single

In a study of Australian women, researchers have stumbled on a mystery that is not really a mystery unless you have to come up with something non-offensive to explain the obvious. Beginning at ages and 18-23, and in a self reporting study, they found that women gained weight as they aged. Specifically, and after 10 years, they found that if a woman had a baby and a partner, the gain was 20 pounds. If she had just a partner, it was 15 pounds, and if she was childless and without a partner, she gained 11 pounds.

There is no reason to believe that having a partner causes metabolic changes, so the weight gain among childless women with partners was almost surely caused by altered behavior. Moreover, there was a steady weight gain among all women over the 10 years of the study.

(N.Y. Times)

The researchers scratch their heads at this point, but the truth of the matter is that women stop trying so hard. If you are married there is no incentive. You have your man. And unless he is complaining about you, or blindingly pretty himself and you are worried of losing him, you are good to go. If a baby is involved, there could be a biological/hormonal factor as well. But bottom line the pressure is off. Which is why the single women without a partner gained the least.

If you were to study men, you would probably also see a general uptrend in weight. That uptrend is probably normative, and it's the differences in weight gain (between men and women) that might be revealing. A follow-up study should compare the weight gain in single men against that 11 pound weight gain in single women.

And also if we are to factor in human nature and the self-reporting involved, we can assume the numbers are double, as women are not highly scientific about the dissemination of personal weight data. Deliberate obfuscation.


Other News:

• Poor people don't know what's wrong with themselves. At least as it relates to autism. Researchers found that autism clusters in California increased with education. This was likely due to the higher rate of discovery, reporting and treatment that occurred with greater education. Education of the parents proved to be a greater factor than the environment (chemicals, etc). Which is also why Native Americans didn't see the European incursion into North America for what it would eventually become; it was a lack of education and self awareness in relation to others.