"Human studies more reliably show that men have higher pain thresholds than women, and some show that men have a higher pain tolerance as well," Graham adds. Another way of thinking about these results, she points out, is that women show more sensitivity to pain. There are several explanations for the variability. read more
Overall, men were found to be more tolerant of pain than women, at least in the lab. One of the proposed explanations for this is biological - men's bodies usually release more pain-relieving biochemicals, such as beta-endorphins. read more
To measure the differences in pain tolerance between men and women, Fillingim uses something called effect size, which compares the differences between the groups to the differences within each group. On a scale of small, moderate, and large, the pain tolerance difference between men and women is considered moderate. read more