Healthy Living & Prevention in El Paso

Breadcrumbs

​ Men and women process pain differently, study finds

  • Home
  • ​ Men and women process pain differently, study finds

​ Men and women process pain differently, study finds

28 Oct 2024 by Ted Escobedo   2 min read

In a new study evaluating meditation for chronic lower back pain, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have discovered that men and women utilize different biological systems to relieve pain. While men relieve pain by releasing endogenous opioids, the body's natural painkillers, women rely instead on other, non-opioid based pathways.
Synthetic opioid drugs, such as morphine and fentanyl, are the most powerful class of painkilling drugs available. Women are known to respond poorly to opioid therapies, which use synthetic opioid molecules to bind to the same receptors as naturally occurring endogenous opioids. This aspect of opioid drugs helps explain why they are so powerful as painkillers, but also why they carry a significant risk of dependence and addiction.
"Dependence develops because people start taking more opioids when their original dosage stops working," said Fadel Zeidan, Ph.D., professor of anesthesiology and Endowed Professor in Empathy and Compassion Research at UC San Diego Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion. "Although speculative, our findings suggest that maybe one reason that females are more likely to become addicted to opioids is that they're biologically less responsive to them and need to take more to experience any pain relief."
Know more: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/10/2410...

About Us

Living a healthier life is a goal that we all strive for but often need encouragement accomplishing. Keeping track of nutrition, exercise, inner happiness and the latest healthy living information may be a time-consuming task. Having some friendly advice at your disposal, whenever and wherever you need it, makes it easier and more fun. With just a click, good2knowelpaso.org is filled with tips, tricks, recipes and personal stories that will inspire you on your journey to wellness. We strive to offer you information and advice that you can immediately incorporate into your life. Think of us as your source for intel on living well!

Good2knowelpaso.org is an initiative of the Rio Grande Cancer Foundation

Subscribe to our newsletter and stay up to date with the latest blog posts!

Contact Us

Rio Grande Cancer Foundation
616 N. Virginia St., Ste D
El Paso, TX 79902


Phone: (915) 562-7660
Email: