Men can take more pain than women, new research finds

Originally posted by intrepid
reply to post by PsychoReaper4

 

Well thank you for calling me an "idiot". Do you have any experience in pain that would add something to the discussion? Does your 2 year study compare to my 50 years of experience?

As a super moderator you should know that any controlled study with blind tests has far far more validity than an anecdotal subjective "test" even if it is conducted over 48 more years.

Shame on you......

Please read the research into the subject. (not just the one highlighted by the OP)

reply to post by yorkshirelad


reply to post by SLAYER69


Still a piss-poor study. They can merely study the effects of "discomfort" in that type of volunteer setting. They never even reached the beginning of the pain threshhold.

I wonder who would pass out first from pain? Real pain.

In the toughman competitions, the women routinely outperform the men when it comes to hanging their own bodyweight from a bar. Of course, there are plenty of contributing factors like strength to weight ratio, and muscle length, elasticity, etc, but really, most tough men know it is a mental game. A women can just endure the physical discomfort longer than the men!

If they want to study pain, they need to go where pain lives, you can't recreate it in a lab.

I take Trep's opinion from the biker bars over the clinical study any day!

reply to post by ollncasino


Did any of you READ the article???

It did not refer to the actual pain thresholds in what they are feeling,
The study was in the willingness to react and express their pain.
Men show more stoicism faced with pain "because they want to appear macho".
That is why the "home in bed with a flu" type of reaction is known only by the family of the guy, who feels he can let down the macho act and express himself freely!

Women feel less pressure to act stoic, express themselves more freely, as there is less cultural taboo against it for them.

Some other studies show women to have a generally higher threshold and/or endurance faced with pain, which it has been hypothesized actually comes from their expressing themselves, which releases pressure and specific hormones which aid them cope.

But in any case, the article says-

Pain scientist Dr Osama Tashani, who recruited 200 British and Libyan volunteers to inflict pain on, said: "Traditionally, high levels of stoicism are associated with men and high levels of sensitivity are associated with women. "Some ethnic groups are described as more stoic, while others are viewed as more free in expressing their pain behaviour. "We did not detect differences in pain unpleasantness."

reply to post by intrepid


Hahaha true that, the flu may be mans biggest downfall, but a man with kidney stones? Not a problem. He'll drive halfway across the country with a bottle of liquor and barely make it into surgery.

BTW.. body fat has little to do with pain and tolerance.. its how youre wired. Your parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system.. your autonomic nervous system and brain. Just an FYI.. if youre going to get in a pissing match.. at the very LEAST know this much.. and that enduring a cold versus giving birth are apples and oranges. Seriously...

Anyone willing to read about pain or are you all going to carry with stereotypical flu and childbirth statements.

Men can tolerate more pain than women and are less likely to react to it because they want to appear macho, researchers have found.

The Independent

Forget the gender war ...

It took a two year study to come back and tell us this.

You could have given me $10 and a coffee and I could have told you that a lot of men like to try to appear macho and physically exert themselves.

Also this could be looked at as an intelligence test. Honestly, if a scientist is going to prod me with a 20cm blunt stick and restrict blood flow to my limbs then ask how it feels ... I'm going to tell the person 'yes, it pretty much sucks ... No, no I don't want to try it again. Yes, I would like my $50 now. Okay, bye.'

I like to think most humans, when it comes to something important to them, will ignore pain and do the right thing. I hope there was more of a point to this than creating daily mail and women's day articles.

reply to post by ollncasino

I've had multiple operations, have artificial joints, meshes, plates, screws. Been through years of physical therapy. I handled it all like a man.

Then I once got a lash in my eye.
Afterwards, my wife almost divorced me.

I have to say that in my experience women can handle long term pain better than men. It's part of human evolution. Comes from the process of birth, periods, and the heavy work load expected of females in our ancient days. While men tend to be stronger as males were the primary hunters.

Women also tend to be more socially cunning than men; I figure it's from our female ancestors having to handle human relations more, while the males were out beating the snot out of stuff.

Sadly I realised my little splurge reminds me of someone on TV...

Opioid Use by Sex

This one has over 50,000 participants, and the men are twice as likely to be lifetime users, and frequent users of Opioids for pain. Apparently they don't mind admitting their pain to their doctors!

(First number is for %male users, second numer is %female users)

Rates of lifetime and past-year non-medical use of prescription opiates were 13.6% and 5.1%, respectively. Significantly more men than women endorsed lifetime (15.9% vs. 11.2%) and past-year use (5.9% vs. 4.2%; ps

Originally posted by beezzer
I've had multiple operations, have artificial joints, meshes, plates, screws. Been through years of physical therapy. I handled it all like a man.

Then I once got a lash in my eye.
Afterwards, my wife almost divorced me.

How did you do with the flu? Just curious. Btw, don't tell yorkshirelad. You might be called and idiot and admonished to reread the source material.

Originally posted by intrepid

Originally posted by beezzer
I've had multiple operations, have artificial joints, meshes, plates, screws. Been through years of physical therapy. I handled it all like a man.

Then I once got a lash in my eye.
Afterwards, my wife almost divorced me.

How did you do with the flu? Just curious. Btw, don't tell yorkshirelad. You might be called and idiot and admonished to reread the source material.

The flu?

Total wuss.

I can have bone splinters shoved through muscle and tissue and ask for a beer.

But if I have the throw-ups? Might as well put me in a dress and call me Daisy!

Originally posted by jerico65


Guys, women bleed for 28 days and they don't die!

Urmmm, did you mean they bleed every 28 days?

reply to post by beezzer


I saw my Dad almost come unglued from passing a Kidney stone back in the day. Meanwhile, my mom had 5 kids. One would have thought she would have said 'Forget having more' after having the first.

Pesky females.

Originally posted by yorkshirelad


Womens bodies are flooded with oestrogen during childbirth which is a pain killer. Men don't have oestrogen. An invalid response, please read the research into the subject. (not just the one highlighted by the OP)

edit on 1/11/2012 by yorkshirelad because: spelling

And, men are flooded with testosterone....Is that your point in the difference?

Seems like this is another "my dick is bigger than your dick" thing but something got missed. Women don't have a dick and the fact of the matter is that women DO handle pain better. Not by my puny 50 years. Look at 1000's of years of history.

reply to post by Sissel


I bled for a year once, I've removed hundreds of surgical staples from my own body, I've stitched my own wounds, I've even removed a German Shephard from my hindquarters, but I don't have anywhere near the pain tolerance of my wife, guaranteed. And I'm not talking about child birth or cramps, I'm talking about daily activities.

How about some of the men here try holding a baby carrier with a 15 lb kid in it, and a purse on the other shoulder, and just stand statically for some period of time. I guarantee, even though I weigh almost 3 times what my wife weighs, and even though I lift weights, and run, and practice martial arts, I cannot hold the baby carrier as long as she can. I can't even bounce back and forth on my feet making a baby sleep as long as she can, because my feet hurt, my arms are on fire, my lower back cramps up. She feels those same pains, but she ignores them and bounces the baby for hours, when I can barely do it for minutes.

Women feel pain, and they know when to see a doctor, and when to ignore it. Men act tough. That is the only part of the study I agree with, but if it comes down to hanging onto a cliffside to save your own life, the women will all outlast the men. If it comes to carrying your baby, purse, groceries, keys, uphill, with the cold wind in your face, the women just do it, while the men complain about it and look for a closer parking space!

Women endure.

Men act tough, women ARE tough!

Originally posted by woodwardjnr

Originally posted by Sissel
reply to post by ollncasino

 

I don't believe it for a second.

They have never given birth to a child.

I'm sure if we could [have babies], we wouldn't create the fuss and drama women do. Just suck it up. Like a man would do.

If men could have babies, they would compare sizes. >.<

In other news, the doctor announced the next two year study:

"My next study will be a two year investigation to see if clowns like floppy shoes," the doctor said. A local Pinke was said to have face palmed at the new clown based research and is quoted to have said, "really?! They pay you for this?!!!!"

Really though it's probably best to stop talking about people hanging off cliff sides etc ... The pain scientists might read it and get ideas. There's probably another six years of studying in cliff hanging.

Originally posted by Pinke
If men could have babies, they would compare sizes. >.<

What don't we?

Sorta the premise of this thread, right?

I think the misconception that men are tougher comes from the aspect that men take more risks.

We're stupider. Ergo, we get hurt more.

Women are smarter, they get hurt less.

Social convention asks that we play certain roles in certain times.

Just my personal take on it. Now my wife has to take care of a boo-boo on my knee.
(I gotta owie )