Post by SpyderLady on Apr 10, 2007 19:21:24 GMT -6
The Male Body vs The Female Body
Saturday, April 7, 2007
1. Women might actually be the stronger sex. A report called The Fragile Male, published in the British Medical Journal, concluded that men, by most measures, are more "vulnerable" than women. The author cited the higher pre-birth mortality rate of male fetuses, higher rates of developmental and behavioral disorders in boys, higher rates of several lethal diseases, and other factors. (Source: British Medical Journal 2000;321:1609-1612, http://www.bmj.com)
2. Men are believed to have a higher pain threshold. While some believe that women are hard-wired with a greater ability to handle pain in order to allow them to bear children, studies (such as those involving men and women submerging their arms in icy cold water and measuring how long they can withstand the pain) have suggested that men can tolerate a greater level of pain. Scientists have suggested that the limbic center in a woman's brain is much more likely to be activated during pain. The limbic center regulates emotion, and if triggered by pain, could make the person react more quickly to avoid prolonged pain. (Source)
3. Women have stronger immune systems than men, which may be the reason women live longer. Researchers at the Imperial College School of Medicine in London found that women in every age group had greater counts of T cells, the white blood cells that combat infections. (Source)
4. The muscles in a woman's heart are typically less elastic than those in a man's heart, and women are more likely than men to experience arrhythmia (abnormal heartbeats), due likely to the effects of hormonal changes. (Source)
5. The male and female bodies process drugs differently. Women will typically clear drugs through their systems faster, particularly during the time around their periods when hormonal cycles are accelerated. In fact, up until around 20 years ago, drug companies did not appreciate this difference and left women out of clinical trials for new drugs. (Source)
6. We eat differently, especially when influenced by society's definition of ideal body image. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne discovered that men will eat more than normal in front of other men when shown pictures of "ideal men" in terms of perceived body image, while women will eat less in front of other women. (Source)
7. The bile in a woman's liver is different than the bile in a man's, which is said to be the reason gallstones are more common in women than in men. (Source)
8. Food typically takes longer to pass through a woman's digestive tract than a man's. (Source)
9. A woman's skin is more likely to become wrinkled than a man's. (Source)
10. On a man's hand, the fourth finger is typically longer than the second. On a woman's hand, the second is usually longer than the fourth. (Source)
Saturday, April 7, 2007
1. Women might actually be the stronger sex. A report called The Fragile Male, published in the British Medical Journal, concluded that men, by most measures, are more "vulnerable" than women. The author cited the higher pre-birth mortality rate of male fetuses, higher rates of developmental and behavioral disorders in boys, higher rates of several lethal diseases, and other factors. (Source: British Medical Journal 2000;321:1609-1612, http://www.bmj.com)
2. Men are believed to have a higher pain threshold. While some believe that women are hard-wired with a greater ability to handle pain in order to allow them to bear children, studies (such as those involving men and women submerging their arms in icy cold water and measuring how long they can withstand the pain) have suggested that men can tolerate a greater level of pain. Scientists have suggested that the limbic center in a woman's brain is much more likely to be activated during pain. The limbic center regulates emotion, and if triggered by pain, could make the person react more quickly to avoid prolonged pain. (Source)
3. Women have stronger immune systems than men, which may be the reason women live longer. Researchers at the Imperial College School of Medicine in London found that women in every age group had greater counts of T cells, the white blood cells that combat infections. (Source)
4. The muscles in a woman's heart are typically less elastic than those in a man's heart, and women are more likely than men to experience arrhythmia (abnormal heartbeats), due likely to the effects of hormonal changes. (Source)
5. The male and female bodies process drugs differently. Women will typically clear drugs through their systems faster, particularly during the time around their periods when hormonal cycles are accelerated. In fact, up until around 20 years ago, drug companies did not appreciate this difference and left women out of clinical trials for new drugs. (Source)
6. We eat differently, especially when influenced by society's definition of ideal body image. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne discovered that men will eat more than normal in front of other men when shown pictures of "ideal men" in terms of perceived body image, while women will eat less in front of other women. (Source)
7. The bile in a woman's liver is different than the bile in a man's, which is said to be the reason gallstones are more common in women than in men. (Source)
8. Food typically takes longer to pass through a woman's digestive tract than a man's. (Source)
9. A woman's skin is more likely to become wrinkled than a man's. (Source)
10. On a man's hand, the fourth finger is typically longer than the second. On a woman's hand, the second is usually longer than the fourth. (Source)