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.
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.
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.
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 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.
VO2 max is the maximum volume of oxygen your body can consume, transport, and use per kilogram of body weight during intense, maximal exercise, expressed in mL/kg/min. It serves as a primary marker of cardiorespiratory fitness, endurance capacity, and long-term health.
But please tell me more how it’s not related to endurance at all or something. Or is the Mayo Clinic wrong too? It is measured at max effort, but it’s a measurement of how much oxygen your body can use generally.
ultra endurance athletes typically have VO2Maxes in the 60 or above range. they don’t have ones in the 30-40 range.
the higher your vo2max, the better endurance you have for any aerobic activity, because as you increase you vo2max, you increase your ability to process oxygen generally. it’s also an adaptive metric, it’s not innate. You get a higher vo2max by training and you get better endurance by doing maximal efforts that enhance your cardio fitness.
Where Vo2Max doesn’t matter is for anaerobic activity, where your body isn’t processing oxygen for fuel. Like power lifting.
It’s also why blood doping works, because enhance your red cell count and therefore your vo2max. it doesn’t enhance your mitochondrial efficiency at all.
you need both, hence why endurance athletes need maximal effort training and they can’t just run at zone 2 forever and expect to get better.
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.
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
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.
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.
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!
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.
you need oxygen to create energy.
there is no such thing as anaerobic endurance. it’s aerobic.
VO2 max is a measure of how much oxygen you can use at max effort. Ultra endurance has little to do with this metric.
(Dw I never read your sports studies grade 1 response to this)
But please tell me more how it’s not related to endurance at all or something. Or is the Mayo Clinic wrong too? It is measured at max effort, but it’s a measurement of how much oxygen your body can use generally.
ultra endurance athletes typically have VO2Maxes in the 60 or above range. they don’t have ones in the 30-40 range.
the higher your vo2max, the better endurance you have for any aerobic activity, because as you increase you vo2max, you increase your ability to process oxygen generally. it’s also an adaptive metric, it’s not innate. You get a higher vo2max by training and you get better endurance by doing maximal efforts that enhance your cardio fitness.
Where Vo2Max doesn’t matter is for anaerobic activity, where your body isn’t processing oxygen for fuel. Like power lifting.
It’s also why blood doping works, because enhance your red cell count and therefore your vo2max. it doesn’t enhance your mitochondrial efficiency at all.
you need both, hence why endurance athletes need maximal effort training and they can’t just run at zone 2 forever and expect to get better.
Well the mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell.