Well I assume women feel more pain in general considering they have periods which are accompanied by pain and other unpleasant sensations. It’s probably one of the reasons women have on average higher pain tolerance than men.
I also find it interesting that in ultra endurance events, the gap between male/female performance disappears, and seems to favour women. I wondered if pain tolerance comes into it or use just physiological.
One, source? Two, wouldn’t a lower pain tolerance only illustrate the point women experience more pain? If women’s pain tolerance is lower that means the pain we experience is worse/more… so either way really… women experience more pain in general.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3690315/ - postoperative for the same procedures, women rate their pain as higher. I would interpret that to mean they have lower pain tolerance, although as the article acknowledges, its tricky to measure.
Well, sure, I agree, it is probably why women experience more pain, as opposed to they have more painful diseases/injuries.
Ages ago I’d read something like “women have a lower threshold before they start feeling pain, but a higher overall pain tolerance as compared to men”. I.e. they feel pain earlier than a man might under similar conditions, but are able to cope with higher pain levels better. At that same time there seemed to be wide agreement that pain was poorly understood. Surely a lot of good work on the study of pain has been done that I am not aware of in the intervening time.
I would argue that, no, there isn’t, hence why I was confused by the person i was originally replying to who said that women have a higher pain tolerance on an article that said women experience more pain.
Well I assume women feel more pain in general considering they have periods which are accompanied by pain and other unpleasant sensations. It’s probably one of the reasons women have on average higher pain tolerance than men.
I also find it interesting that in ultra endurance events, the gap between male/female performance disappears, and seems to favour women. I wondered if pain tolerance comes into it or use just physiological.
it’s because what matters is vo2max.
men have higher vo2max, but also higher mass, so in the end the supply of oxygen is the same.
it has nothing to do with pain. it’s about your bodies ability to power itself, and that overwhelmingly comes from oxygen uptake.
that and how many carb you can uptake, which is proportional to your mass.
You think vo2 max is important for ultra endurance? I would say mitochondrial efficiency is more important in anything above say 12 hours.
Well the mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell.
Women have lower pain tolerances though, with the exception of when they are in labor (due to very elevated hormone levels)
One, source? Two, wouldn’t a lower pain tolerance only illustrate the point women experience more pain? If women’s pain tolerance is lower that means the pain we experience is worse/more… so either way really… women experience more pain in general.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3690315/ - postoperative for the same procedures, women rate their pain as higher. I would interpret that to mean they have lower pain tolerance, although as the article acknowledges, its tricky to measure.
Well, sure, I agree, it is probably why women experience more pain, as opposed to they have more painful diseases/injuries.
Is there a functional difference between ‘lower pain tolerance’ and ‘experiences more pain’?
Your comment makes me feel like I’ve missed something here
Ages ago I’d read something like “women have a lower threshold before they start feeling pain, but a higher overall pain tolerance as compared to men”. I.e. they feel pain earlier than a man might under similar conditions, but are able to cope with higher pain levels better. At that same time there seemed to be wide agreement that pain was poorly understood. Surely a lot of good work on the study of pain has been done that I am not aware of in the intervening time.
I would argue that, no, there isn’t, hence why I was confused by the person i was originally replying to who said that women have a higher pain tolerance on an article that said women experience more pain.
Recent experiences would make me believe the pain tolerance is not higher in labor.
https://sarahbuckley.com/pain-in-labour-your-hormones-are-your-helpers-2/
Certainly not trying to say labor isnt painful though!