#499 Humans Aren’t Supposed to Live This Long (Grandmothers Might Explain Why) - Dr Kristen Hawkes

Professor Kristen Hawkes is a pioneering anthropologist whose work helped bring the grandmother hypothesis to the spotlight of human evolution research. Through fieldwork and evolutionary theory, she argued that older women may have played a crucial role in shaping the human life course, not just by living longer, but by helping feed and support grandchildren. That idea helped reframe menopause, longevity, and family cooperation as possible drivers of what makes humans distinct and what explains our longer lifespans.Check out Bon Charge wellness products (Code SIIM for 15% discount): https://boncharge.com/siimlandTimestamps:00:00 Intro01:05 How Kristen started to think about the paradox of grandmother longevity09:15 What accounts for variation in adult mortality across lifespan13:40 Difference in male and female longevity17:20 Why human babies are very dependent 20:05 Bon Charge sponsorship21:10 Dynamics of human social evolution and longevity23:05 How longer weening period in human babies contributes to our intelligence29:35 Weening and intelligence34:25 Evolutionary explanation for grandparents36:35 The contribtion of hunting success vs gathering to children size in Hadza47:05 Does the grandmother hypothesis make sense48:15 Role of DHA and seafood in human brain evolution51:35 Social hierarchy of grandparents in the Hadza56:01 Grandfathers01:08:35 Role of grandparents in the modern worldMy 2026 longevity routine: https://youtu.be/OceysodInIoStart rewinding your biological clock: https://www.siimland.co/course