Why science says having a toy boy could shave years off women's lives... yet men benefit from a younger lover

Madonna has long been a fan of the cougar lifestyle - saying that younger men's zest for life makes them better partners. 

'People who are older, and more set in their ways, are probably not as adventurous as someone younger,' the pop superstar told the New York Daily News in 2015. 

But research suggests that having a toyboy could send women to an earlier grave. 

A  2010 study found Danish women who were just a decade older than their partners were 20 percent more likely to die early, from any cause, compared to women who were partnered with people their own age.

This could be because women take on more stress in a relationship than men do, which ages them more quickly, Stacey Litam, an assistant Professor at Cleveland State University and Forbes Health Advisor who studies sexual wellbeing, told DailyMail.com. 

Cher, pictured here with her boyfriend, rapper Alexander Edwards. There is a forty year age gap between the pair. 

The study found that the opposite was true for men - Danish men with the same gap between their female partners actually lived 11 percent longer than other men who were married to women of a similar age. 

But experts told DailyMail.com that aspiring cougars should not be put off by a single study. 

68 year old Kris Jenner is currently coupled up with 43 year old actor, Corey Gamble. That makes for a 25 year age gap between the two. 

The research, published by University of Stockholm sociologist and demographer, Professor Sven Drefahl, drew it's conclusions by looking at an older dataset about the lifestyles of 1.8million Danish people over age 50 in heterosexual marriages. 

Often times, having a large dataset for a scientific study makes it more robust. 

But when it comes to papers like this, that look back at datasets to draw conclusions, a huge number of variables can actually be a detriment, Professor Richard S Balkin, a sexual health researcher at Mississippi University, told DailyMail.com

He explained that when you include as many people as are featured in this study, you can find relationships between variables that aren't actually related.

'When you have a lot of data you could have a significant finding that's not actually meaningful,' he explained.

Sam Taylor-Johnson, 57, admits she is shocked by the 'fascination' over her 24-year age gap with husband Aaron

The couple have a fiercely private relationship and have previously caused controversy within the public due to their age gap... READ MORE

Therefore, he wasn't convinced by the paper that all women who get into relationships with younger women are doomed to die earlier than other people their age. 

Plus, these relationships are actually relatively rare in the US, so it might not be accurate to translate the Swedish study to Americans, Stacey Litam, an assistant Professor at Cleveland State University and Forbes Health Advisor who studies sexual wellbeing, told the Daily Mail.

Only about eight percent of heterosexual couples in the US have an age gap of ten years or more, compared to 25 percent of homosexual men and 15 percent of homosexual women in relationships. 

In roughly nine in 10 of those heterosexual couples, the man is older than the woman. 

But if you head to the land of the rich and famous, you might think keeping a cougar lifestyle is more common.

Take Goddess of pop, Cher, who at 77 years old, is dating someone 40 years her junior - 37 year old rapper Alexander Edwards. 

'The reason why I go out with young men is because men my age or older - well, now they're all dead - but before, they just never, they were always terrified to approach me' Cher said while on The Jennifer Hudson Show. 

Then there's mommy-manager and reality show goliath, 68 year old Kris Jenner, who is currently partnered with 43 year old actor, Corey Gamble.

There's also the public fascination with the 24 year age gap between 33 year old Aaron Taylor-Johnson and 57 year old director Sam Taylor-Johnson. Though the pair have been married since 2012, the internet was lit afire with renewed rage at the pairing last year. 

Actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson, 33, has been married to his partner, 57 year old Sam Taylor-Johnson, since 2012.  There is a 24 year age gap between them. 

It's long been believed by sociologists that men who marry younger woman have longer lifespans. 

This idea spans from a massively popular study published in 1984 that men aged 70-79 who were married to younger women lived longer than others in their age group.

Conversely, multiple studies have shown that over a lifetime, men tend to benefit from long term partnerships more than women do, according to the Survey Center on American Life.

'Independent of age, women disproportionately carry more stress and emotional burden compared to their male partners this is because of societal and familial expectations based on gender roles,' Professor Litam said. 

Many theories have sprung up to explain just why so many men seem to go for younger women.  

The prevailing idea has to do with evolution and biology, Professor Litam said. 

Older men like to be with younger women because they have more reproductive viability and energy - which would've been an evolutionary advantage, she said. And younger women tend to partner with older men because they've usually amassed more resources. 

Also, men tend to be less socially developed than women, Professor Balkin said. 'If we understand that biologically women develop faster then men, then that includes brain development too,' he said. 

So a younger woman might be better matched, maturity wise, with a man whose who senior than her contemporary, he explained.  

But as for the toyboys, the jury is still out, Professor Balkin said. 'There's a social norm that’s there. We know it’s there, we don’t know why, and this study doesn’t tell you why, it just acknowledges that it’s there.'