The ‘dad bod’ is officially in, and science has the data to back it up.
In case you don’t know, the dad bod is a roundabout term for those guys who are packing a bit of extra weight around the middle regions.
According to Richard Bribiescas, Professor of Anthropology and Deputy Provost at Yale University, older men with children and a little extra weight are most attractive to women.
Their children suggest increased virility, which throughout human history has been a vital biological trait in in male partners… You know, to continue the human race with their strong-swimming sperm.
In Bribiescas’ new book How Men Age: What Evolution Reveals About Male Health and Mortality, he states that becoming fatter after fatherhood due to decreasing testosterone levels actually prolongs lives and strengthens immune systems.
He writes, “[One] effect of lower testosterone levels is loss of muscle mass and increases in fat mass. This change in body composition not only causes men to shop for more comfortable trousers but also facilitates increased survivorship and, hypothetically, a hormonal milieu that would more effectively promote and support paternal investment.”
There is evidence that slightly chunky dads are less likely to suffer from heart attacks and prostate cancer too, reports the Telegraph.
There you have it. All hail to the dad bod!
