June 23rd, 2010 
Fathers who take paternity leave live longer, experts say.
According to their study, taking up to two months off work when a baby is born lowers a man’s risk of dying prematurely by almost 25 per cent.
Their research is based on the health and habits of men in Sweden, the first country to give new fathers paid time off work.
And the experts say encouraging men to take time off when their child is born may help to close the gender gap in longevity. At the moment, men live on average five to seven years fewer than women.
The reasons behind that are not clear, but one theory is that men who are close to their children take better care of their own health. This might mean that they eat healthier foods, drink less, visit the doctor more often or simply take fewer risks in life.
Another theory is that making time for family activities cuts stress levels, according to the journal Social Science & Medicine.
‘Strategies aimed at less gender stereotypical expectations on what a man “should do” are on the whole likely to benefit male health, and potentially reduce the gender gap in longevity, said the researchers, from Stockholm’s Karolinska Institute, who studied 72,000 fathers.
