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One of the reasons for which women tolerate pain better than men is that they have to give birth. Even if some women manage to do it without pain killers, it's

One of the reasons for which women tolerate pain better than men is that they have to give birth. Even if some women manage to do it without pain killers, it's still not a walk in the park.

sliverstorm 16y ago
Well, to be fair men of the past probably experienced just as much pain- I mean, it seems possible that being impaled with a sword or cut in half with a battle-axe is pretty uncomfortable. The difference I see is men didn't need to be able to tolerate and survive that pain, 'cause they were dead anyway. Women, on the other hand, really need to be able to survive and cope with the pain of childbirth so they can raise their child.
Archaeum 16y ago
That seems plausible (and the conventional wisdom), but I don't think it's a matter addressed in this study, which was rat-based. My understanding is that the difficulty in human birth is largely attributable to extra prenatal development that results in the baby being relatively large. So, even if birth pain is a factor in humans, there must be an additional driving force, a factor on which the research apparently didn't speculate.
elptacek 16y ago
This was my first thought, as well. But after re-reading the article, it's not clear to me that women have a higher tolerance for pain, just that we require two types of receptors to be active to feel relief from morphine, and that the "complex" of proteins fluctuates with the estrous cycle. I can say that certain painful acts in the context of my multiparous experience have resulted in a flood of pain relief from somewhere within my person shortly after the onset of pain. Things that I was not aware my body could tolerate became tolerable. All very strange.
icegreentea 16y ago
Actually, studies done on pain tolerances shows that a pregnant women's pain tolerance goes up sharply as childbirth approaches, and then drops back down to normal levels after childbirth. In addition I'm pretty sure I read that on average females have a lower pain tolerance then men. Though it can be changed by training... relatively easily too.

One of the reasons for which women tolerate pain better than men is that they have to give birth. Even if some women manage to do it without pain killers, it's still not a walk in the park.

sliverstorm 16y ago

Well, to be fair men of the past probably experienced just as much pain- I mean, it seems possible that being impaled with a sword or cut in half with a battle-axe is pretty uncomfortable. The difference I see is men didn't need to be able to tolerate and survive that pain, 'cause they were dead anyway. Women, on the other hand, really need to be able to survive and cope with the pain of childbirth so they can raise their child.

Archaeum 16y ago

That seems plausible (and the conventional wisdom), but I don't think it's a matter addressed in this study, which was rat-based. My understanding is that the difficulty in human birth is largely attributable to extra prenatal development that results in the baby being relatively large. So, even if birth pain is a factor in humans, there must be an additional driving force, a factor on which the research apparently didn't speculate.

elptacek 16y ago

This was my first thought, as well. But after re-reading the article, it's not clear to me that women have a higher tolerance for pain, just that we require two types of receptors to be active to feel relief from morphine, and that the "complex" of proteins fluctuates with the estrous cycle. I can say that certain painful acts in the context of my multiparous experience have resulted in a flood of pain relief from somewhere within my person shortly after the onset of pain. Things that I was not aware my body could tolerate became tolerable. All very strange.

icegreentea 16y ago

Actually, studies done on pain tolerances shows that a pregnant women's pain tolerance goes up sharply as childbirth approaches, and then drops back down to normal levels after childbirth. In addition I'm pretty sure I read that on average females have a lower pain tolerance then men. Though it can be changed by training... relatively easily too.