The womenon average, have thresholds of sensitivity lower than the men. Scientific research highlights that women tend to perceive pain more intenseand to demonstrate it more frequency. Experiments that induced pain via pressure, heat, electrical stimuli or hypertonic saline solutions confirm that, in general, women present are more sensitive to multiple pain modality compared to men, but that in the long run, emotionally processing and socializing the pain (as women generally do), can lead to greater acceptance. We must not forget the social and cultural factors which influence the expression and perception of pain, as well as individual factors linked to the experience of each of us.
The role of hormonal differences in pain perception
One of the first biological explanations called into question concerns the sexual hormones. The testosteronemore abundant in males, appears to have an analgesic effect, while the estrogens and the progesteronethe main female sex hormones, have a higher ratio complex with pain: they can in fact have different effects on us nociceptors (the pain receptors scattered throughout our body) both pro-nociceptive (increased pain) either anti-nociceptive (which reduce it).
The hormonal fluctuations during the menstrual cycle significantly affect the female perception of pain: for example, in follicular phasewhen the levels of progesterone they are lower, the tolerance threshold tends to increase. Another key hormone is la prolactinproduced by the pituitary gland: a 2024 study published in Brain shows how this hormone selectively sensitizes female nociceptors, lowering their activation threshold, thus making the receptors more sensitive. In males the effect of prolactin does not occur, but a similar role is played byorexin-Bwhich is shown to be selective in males, just as prolactin is selective in females.
Different areas of the brain are activated in males and females
Even the investigations of neuroimaging have offered interesting insights, telling us about brains “lighting up” in response to pain in different areas in men and women. When experiencing pain, women show greater activation in brain areas related to emotions and to sensorialitylike theinsula and the thalamus. Men, on the contrary, seem to more frequently involve i control circuitsparticularly regions of prefrontal cortex. This makes you think of two different strategies, one more aimed at “feeling” the pain perhaps to have more clarity on the extent of the danger, the other more aimed at “controlling”, to react first to the detriment of an awareness, which in man takes second place.
The male body relieves pain “better”, but females resist it longer
Even the endogenous opioid system of humans, the body’s natural mechanism for relieving pain, works differently between males and females, particularly with regards to prolonged pain over time. The receptors that deal with this type of pain, called μ-opioid receptorshave a higher activation level in men and lower in women: that is, they are activated with stronger stimuli, after the female ones. All this translates into lower pain relief in women. On the other side of the coin, however, it emerges that women resist better in the timedespite feeling more pain: the cognitive and emotional response typical of females seems to lead to greater acceptance and processing. Does this perhaps explain the usual pattern of dying men when they reach 37°C body temperature, unlike women who continue straight up to 40°C? Who can say.
The role of psyche and culture in the different perception of pain between genders
Psychological factors also have a significant impact. Men and women, in fact, experience life differently.anxiety and the fear related to pain. Women tend to develop greater hypervigilancethat is, constant attention to situations perceived as threateningwhich helps to increase their pain sensitivity, therefore a generic higher level of anxiety related to pain.
Surprisingly, the culture affects not only the expression of pain, but also his perception. It is known that for men expressing pain is more difficult: society expects them resistence And stoicismand this leads to less externalization compared to women, for whom the manifestation of pain is more socially accepted. There social pressure can contribute, in men, to that perception of greater check of the painful situation we were talking about before, strengthening the sense of self-efficacy and of psychological containment. Women, on the contrary, tend more often to what researchers call “catastrophism” (it’s just a technical term, don’t worry), that is, to ruminate over and over again about the pain, and this attitude is defined by scientists as a psychosocial factor which worsens the experience of chronic pain.
Let us remember, however, that pain has many facets, and it is a strong dimension subjective of human life. In fact, it presents a large individual variabilityand intersects with life stories that are difficult to generalise.
