Men can take more pain than women, new research finds

Originally posted by nixie_nox
*laughs* Total BS

A friend of the family has run a tattoo chain for over 30 years.

Men will get pale, moan, and pass out getting a tattoo. They see it all the time.

They have never seen a woman pass out.

Don't women have more fat between their skin and their nerves?

Link

Could that explain why women, according to your friend, feel the pain of a needle less?

Originally posted by LesMisanthrope
reply to post by ollncasino

 

I suffer from cluster headaches, aka the suicide headache, which is more painful that childbirth according to women sufferers who have also given birth. Cluster headaches are more common in men. Luckily, for my sanity, they don't last more than an hour.

edit on 1-11-2012 by LesMisanthrope because: (no reason given)

Odd my response didn't show up here and I don't have time to type it out again but, the short version the above is false as I have experienced both and I will challenge any man to a pain tolerance competition. I will win hands down.

Originally posted by calstorm

Originally posted by LesMisanthrope
reply to post by ollncasino

 

I suffer from cluster headaches, aka the suicide headache, which is more painful that childbirth according to women sufferers who have also given birth. Cluster headaches are more common in men. Luckily, for my sanity, they don't last more than an hour.

edit on 1-11-2012 by LesMisanthrope because: (no reason given)

Odd my response didn't show up here and I don't have time to type it out again but, the short version the above is false as I have experienced both and I will challenge any man to a pain tolerance competition. I will win hands down.

edit on 1-11-2012 by calstorm because: (no reason given)

Whatever makes you feel better about yourself.

reply to post by ollncasino


The fat layer is underneath the nerve layer, so it is irrevalent.

WHen a man can bleed for a week at a time EVERY month, then push out a 7 lb bowling ball we will definitely consider the truth to this study. Until then...

reply to post by ollncasino


I was there for the birth of my child...and I highly HIGHLY doubt....I could tolerate what she did...or ANY man for that matter...nature chose women to deal with child-bearing...I would think this is a good indicator that they have a higher pain threshold...

Originally posted by chiefsmom
Really?

They can't even handle being sick!!!! LOL
Or waxing or getting plucked LOL

Not buying that for a minute.

edit on 1-11-2012 by chiefsmom because: afterthought

Can you tell me why would I have to be waxed or plucked?

Not to mention that those examples are totally voluntary.

I have always assumed that men had a higher pain tolerance than women anyway, what's the big deal, it's not a flippin contest.

...thats why men have been on the frontline of battles for centuries... not that it matters but that fact alone is telling.

also 'pain tolerance' is relative. kick a man in the balls and he will feel it more then a woman getting kicked in the same place with the same force.

and there are different types of pain, emotional, mental, physical, all of which i've witnessed different level of strengths for each. I will say that the women tend to be A LOT more emotionally vulnerable to pain then the men.

I think honestly that men and women feel pain differently.
Men seem to be able to take sudden pain better, or bear the brunt of a sudden attack.
Women seem to be able to endure higher levels of pain for longer periods. It is like comparing apples and oranges.

I think sadly, that many men do not openly voice their pain, for fear of seeming weak or wimpy. It might be a learned behaviour. It might be nature. Women are more likely to express when they have physical pain.

I spend a lot of time at my son's elementary school, volunteering. Something I noticed was that younger boys are probably twice as likely to cry when getting hurt as opposed to the girls. I think they are still young enough to be able to express their pain rather than holding it in. Time and again, I have seen boys skin knees, fall off of things, get hit with soccer balls, etc., and burst out in tears. Likewise, I have seen girls totally eat dirt, get slammed in the head, knocked flat, and the like and get up with just a pained look on their face. The older the grade, the tougher the boys begin to appear.

And I have to agree with the illness comments. As Janes Addiction once said:
"It's true I am a villain when you fall ill, that's probably because men never can be. Not like a girl."

I have had swine flu and still run the household, not even joking. Husband had a cold and drove himself to the ER, saying he was dying. I think it really has to do with the duration of the illness. He could probably take a bullet better than me and still get up and walk, but when it would come to extended pain, such as childbirth, he would not sustain more than half an hour. I guess there is probably a reason we are made this way..it kind of makes sense, as we women bear the young and nurse, have periods, etc. Men need to be tough to be protective, probably have a better adrenaline going.

Kind of neat when you think about it! Either way, we are made for each other.

Originally posted by intrepid

Originally posted by mamabeth
reply to post by woodwardjnr

 

Most men are big babies themselves when it comes to pain.They
get a little scratch and they feel they need a king kong size bandaid.

edit on 1-11-2012 by mamabeth because: (no reason given)

Or they bleed out because they won't accept medical attention.

Ya, that sounds more like it - won't even bother to wash out a wound, but those damn colds will get ya every time, won't even mention the flu...

Many years ago I got into a big fight with my first husband.

- He slapped me hard, and it made me mad.

- In retaliation I kicked him in the balls. I swear you'd have thought he was going to die. The fight ended there because he couldn't even stand up. Not much for pain tolerance in my opinion.

Advantage: WOMEN

I think the logical conclusion is this.

Men have a higher pain threshold for external pains. Such as with fighting or labour induced pains, men persevere. Not saying women can't, but men are born for it. Period.

Women have a higher pain threshold for EVERYTHING else. Women are built for internal pain. They can withstand child birth, they can withstand a monthly cycle, with cramps and everything else included. Nothing can match what women feel internally.

I think this goes along well with the sexuality. Men's organs are external, which handles external pain. Womens are internal, which handles internal pain.... No scientific study required, quite simply, nature has made this argument quite clear.

reply to post by xxshadowfaxx


Internal.....external.......pain is pain.

This is one of those gender neutral things IMO. It all depends on a persons physical make up, and I'm not just talking about their sexual organs. Their entire bodies.

I've known females in the country who can take a lot more physical pain then city boys. Your tolerance for pain kind of goes hand in hand with how you were brought up, the physical history of your family, etc......

Originally posted by calstorm
I will challenge any man to a pain tolerance competition. I will win hands down.

You're on.

C'mon over.

That is just nonsense.

reply to post by FyreByrd


Someone said something to the effect that certain hormones raise a women's tolerance to pain during childbirth. Could be something to that - though I think it has more to do with endurance rather then tolerance.

The same could be true (with more scientific evidence) to support men's ability to take abuse and pain in a combat situation. Adrenaline and shock both block pain.

Then there is the soldier fainting in the infirmary because of a vaccination.

My experience with men is that they tolerate all types of pain much less easily then women. Also men will ignore warning pain and continue on with something that hurts them (often permanently - work injuries) just because of pride.

Originally posted by Sly1one
reply to post by ollncasino

 

I was there for the birth of my child...and I highly HIGHLY doubt....I could tolerate what she did...or ANY man for that matter...nature chose women to deal with child-bearing...I would think this is a good indicator that they have a higher pain threshold...

I'm a woman and I've patiently and without complaint endured incredible indescribable pain from horrific injuries, ailments (encephalitis/ meningitis as a child) and accidents...but even I couldn't take childbirth. I was yelling for the $#% epidural after just a few minutes of real labor pains. Even the epidural itself was incredibly painful. Pregnancy was fun but labor sucks. I ended up with an emergency c anyway which was also horrific but preferable to the labor pains. So even though I'm a mother I don't know how women can stand pushing a baby through the birth canal in a natural childbirth.

Say what you will about men being more whiny when they're sick, or that men couldn't handle giving birth and the like, but you've got to be pretty dimwitted to honestly believe, in the literal sense, that women can handle pain better than men.

Any female who truly disagrees with me is welcome to lay her forearm on the table, snugly pressed against my own. Have someone light a cigarette and lay it between our arms. It's bound to get uncomfortable. let's see who moves away, first.

"Oh, but that's only initial pain!" some moron would surely say. "Women can endure pain for longer periods of time!" Well then, let's have someone place a hot coal on some part of our body, every 10 minutes, for however many hours or days it takes until one of us submits. Let's see who cracks first.

There is a certain toughness that men have, on both the physical and mental level, that women can never even get close to. Believe otherwise if you like, but when the chips are down, the truth speaks for itself.

reply to post by Bachelor


You must have an especially good tolerance for burns. I don't. You win.