Women are amazing. We give the gift of life, we are mothers, wives, daughters. We work, we raise children, and we look pretty good doing it.
But did you know that the expression “men are from Mars, women are from Venus” may actually hold some weight? For example, some studies have shown that women have a perfect memory for facial features.
Read on to discover more facts about the female body that you may not have known.
Women’s immune systems are stronger than men’s 🦠
It is commonly known that women live longer than men, and this could be very well due to the fact that the female body may be better at fighting off infections than the male body. Still, there are plenty of hypotheses to explain this.
Some of them are:
1. It’s all in the genes
Researchers from Ghent University in Belgium have argued these sex-specific health disparities may be due to genetic material called microRNAs.
The main function of microRNAs in cells is to turn off specific genes. The researchers say microRNAs located on the female X chromosome may give women an immune system advantage over males.
2. Oestrogens rule
Studies suggest that the female sex hormone, oestrogen, plays a part in this, by curbing the expression of an enzyme that hinders the body’s defense system against bacteria and viruses. Researchers are not exactly sure why, but one probable explanation is that a stronger immune system developed over time, because of the woman’s role in giving birth and caring for her offspring.
Women have a higher pain threshold 🥵
Though, of course, pain is subjective, it seems to be the case that women, in general, can at least handle the discomfort of pain better. According to researchers at McGill University, men rated their pain higher than women did during a series of tests. Men also were observed being more “stressed and hypersensitive” when facing individual pain than women.
Fun fact: Another likely reason for women’s longer life expectancy could be the fact that they have higher chances of surviving injury and trauma.
Women have a more acute sense of smell 👃🏼
As Charles Wysocki, a behavioral neuroscientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, observed in his study, “it is quite difficult to block a woman’s awareness of body odor. In contrast, it seems rather easy to do so in men.”
The researchers think women are more attuned to underarm body odor because the biological data it contains helps them choose a potential partner. Well, it certainly beats Tinder.
The study tested 32 fragrances to see how well they could hide body odor. Among the male subjects, 19 of the fragrances worked to fool them. When it came to women, only two of the scents successfully overpowered the underarm stink.
Women can see more colors 🌈
Women have a larger “color vocabulary” compared to men, according to research by Israel Abramov of CUNY’s Brooklyn College. Abramov asked men and women to break down the hue of a color and to assign a percentage to the categories of red, yellow, green, and blue.
The results showed that women were better at distinguishing between subtle gradations than men were. This sensitivity was most evident in the middle of the color spectrum. Women were more able to distinguish tiny differences between colors that looked identical to men.
And this is why women should always be allowed to pick the paint colors in a new home.
Women have better memory 🤓
Remembering the faces of people you have just met may be a challenge for many, but it may be apparently less so for women in general.
Women have been found to be stronger in memory skills than men, as suggested in studies, where they outdid men in memory tests. Their superior memory skills are not just limited to remembering things, like items on a list, but also faces of people as well.
Studies have also shown that the gender difference may be a result of the way we teach our daughters and sons to tell stories. We make memories by storytelling.
When moms ask their kids for details about what happened during the day, they’re actually training their kids how to remember things. Azriel Grysman, who studies gender and memory at Hamilton College, says that gender norms orient girls more toward elaboration than boys, which may lead to better memories.
Women’s necks are more flexible 🤸🏼
Have you ever noticed that when men turn around they turn their whole bodies, but women turn only their heads? This is because women have more flexible necks. Women have a much more elastic muscle structure in general (due to evolutionary adaptation for childbearing).
This does, however, mean that women are more prone to neck pain than men.
Women have sensitive hearing, even while sleeping 👂🏼
Evolution is the reason for this. Women are hypersensitive to sounds during sleep so that new mothers can hear and respond to crying babies. Women are most sensitive to high pitched noises in particular.
This does, sadly, mean that women are more likely to suffer from sleep disorders. Earplugs are your friends here, ladies.
Women’s brains are more intricately hard-wired 🧠
Dr. Ragini Verma, PhD, an associate professor in the department of Radiology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues, found that women’s brains are more interconnected than men’s.
This means that women are faster at making social connections and can adapt to routine more easily. But then we knew that, didn’t we?