Men Have Greater Threshold for Pain Than Women

A new study conducted by researchers at Leeds Metropolitan University has found that men have a greater threshold for pain compared to women and were also less likely to report it as it would not be considered ‘macho’. Lead researcher and pain scientist Dr Osama Tashani said that the debate about who has the greater threshold to pain has been going on for ages with women often pointing out to childbirth as the proof that they have a greater threshold.

Dr Tashani recruited around 200 British and Libyan nationals for the two-year study and monitored sensitivity, endurance and willingness to report pain as they were made to go through two pain-inducing procedures.

Dr Tashani found that men had a higher threshold for pain compared to women and were also less likely to report it though culture also played a part in influencing the threshold with Libyans having a greater threshold to pain compared to their British counterparts. “Some ethnic groups are described as more stoic, while others are viewed as more free in expressing their pain behavior. We did not detect differences in pain unpleasantness”, Dr Tashani said.


Source-Medindia