By ANGELA EPSTEIN
PUBLISHED: 00:54 GMT, 10 December 2013 |
UPDATED: 00:54 GMT, 10 December 2013
We know men and women are different. But while physical build and
sexual characteristics make this obvious — men are, on average, 15 per cent
bigger — there are plenty of more subtle differences between the sexes, too. Last
week a study controversially suggested that differences in the ‘hard-wiring’ of
the male and female brain explained why women were likely to be better at
multi-tasking.
Men, in comparison, are better at concentrating on single complex
tasks, it seems.
But what other physical characteristics mark men and women as
different? And what are the implications for their health?
WHO CAN SEE COLOURS BETTER?
Women have a greater capacity to appreciate subtle tones and shades
because their eyes have more ‘colour vision’ genes than men, explains Andrew
Lotery, professor of ophthalmology at the University of Southampton.
These genes help us recognise different colours and appreciate shades,
tone and definition.
The genes are located in our X chromosomes — the genetic code which
decides our gender. Men have one X chromosome, women have two, which is why
women have more colour vision genes.
Having fewer genes also means men have a higher chance of suffering
from colour blindness — if a woman has any missing or damaged genes, she has a
‘back-up’ set on her second X chromosome; men don’t have this.
About eight in 100 men and one in 100 women are affected by colour
blindness.
. . . AND WHOSE BONES ARE
STRONGER?
The male skeleton tends to be bigger; but although a woman’s pelvis
tends to be smaller, the openings between the pelvic bones tend to be bigger to
allow babies to pass through.
‘The downside of this is that woman are more prone to prolapse — a
bulging down of the pelvic organs,’ says Anton Emmanuel, consultant
gastroenterologist at University College Hospital in London.
This occurs when pelvic floor muscles weaken, allowing organs including
the bladder, uterus, small bowel, and rectum to fall out of position, causing
pain and incontinence.
The cortex or outer layer of bone is generally thicker in men than
women, so men are less susceptible to fractures if they fall, says Paul Allen,
consultant orthopaedic and knee surgeon at Chelsfield Park Hospital in
Orpington, Kent.
This is aggravated for women because their bones become thinner after
the menopause as they lose oestrogen’s protective effect.
MEN NEED BIGGER NOSES
Men’s noses tend to be up to 10 per cent larger because they need more
oxygen than women, according to researchers at the University of Iowa. Men
generally have more lean muscle mass, which requires more oxygen for muscle
tissue growth and maintenance.
Larger noses mean more oxygen can be breathed in and transported in the
blood to supply the muscle.
The size differences in noses become apparent at around the age 11,
when men begin to grow more lean muscle mass and women grow more fat mass.
LARGER LIVERS COPE WITH BOOZE
The female liver, though proportionally smaller than a man’s, works
just as effectively, except in relation to the effects of alcohol. Female
livers contain lower levels of an enzyme called dehydrogenase, needed to break
down alcohol in the body, explains David Lloyd, consultant liver surgeon at
Leicester General Hospital. Therefore a woman will break down less alcohol and
absorb more into her bloodstream than a man even if he weighs the same as her
and has drunk the same amount. So she’ll feel the effects of what she drinks
more quickly.
WOMEN’S HEARTS CAUSE TROUBLE
The female heart is about two thirds the size of a man’s and beats
slightly less frequently — on average around 72 beats per minute instead of 80.
Women who suffer with an irregular heart rhythm, known as atrial
fibrillation (AF), are at greater risk of stroke than men, says Dr Glyn Thomas,
a consultant cardiologist at the Bristol Heart Institute.
Strokes are a complication of AF and seem to occur more in women than
men — possibly because they are more prone to high blood pressure after the
menopause (and they’ve lost the protective effects of oestrogen) and high blood
pressure is another stroke risk factor.
Women’s arteries can be smaller than men’s, which can be a health risk
as they age, adds Eddie Chaloner, a consultant vascular surgeon at Lewisham
General Hospital, London.
‘Arteries can fur up as part of the ageing process. But if that is
accelerated, by risk factors such as smoking, there’s a greater chance they
will get blocked in women because the width of the artery is smaller.’
There’s also a higher failure rate for women in heart operations such
as coronary bypasses and putting in stents (tiny tubes used to open up blocked
arteries) because operating on smaller vessels is more difficult.
. . . AND SO DOES A LONGER BOWEL
Though women tend to be a smaller build than men, their colons are the
same size — so they are disproportionately longer for their bodies.
This may be to help the body absorb more fluid during pregnancy.
However, having a disproportionately longer colon can make a woman more prone
to bloating.
This is because the colon’s sole function is to absorb water, so more
is retained in their stomachs.
Women also feel full more quickly than men, even when they eat the same
amount of food.
‘Not only are female stomachs slightly smaller, but there is a greater
nerve input and sensitivity from their gut to the brain, which means they get
messages more quickly that they feel full,’ explains gastroenterologist Dr
Emmanuel.
WHOSE LUNGS WORK HARDER?
Women’s lung capacity is about 30 per cent less than men’s, explains Dr
Rohit Lal, a lung cancer specialist at Guy’s Hospital in London.
Women’s lung muscles may have to work harder than men’s because their
lungs are smaller and their airways narrower, making breathlessness more common
after exercise.
Because women are a smaller build, their lung muscles have to work
harder than men’s to move a given amount of air, adds John Dearing, a sports injury
surgeon at Carrick Glen Hospital in Ayr.
It could explain why women with emphysema and heart failure — where the
heart can’t pump oxygen around the body as efficiently — have worse problems
with breathing than men.
WHY GIRLS CAN DO THE SPLITS
Women have looser ligaments than men, possibly to help the pelvis
expand more easily during childbirth.
Ligaments are the tissues that connect bones to each other and should
be tight to restrict joints to ‘normal’ ranges of motion. Looser ligaments mean women have a greater
range of movement, which may make it easier for them to do the splits, for
example. But this can be a disadvantage,
as it means women are at greater risk of joint injuries, explains Professor
Alan Silman, consultant rheumatologist and medical director of Arthritis
Research UK.
Young women are more likely than men to have bad knees as the flexible
cartilage tissue in knee joints tends to be more elastic.
It tends to tighten up as women reach the age of 40, but why is
unclear.
Women may also suffer with knee pain because their wider pelvis causes
the thigh bone to come down to the knee at a wider angle, says sports injury
surgeon Mr Dearing.
‘This creates a tendency for the kneecaps to push outwards and so makes
this area more vulnerable to injury, pain and arthritis.’
. . . AND ARE ALWAYS IN THE LOO
Our bladders are in proportion to our bodies. However what sets men and
women apart is the size of the urethra — a tube that drains urine from the
bladder.
‘In a woman this will be around 3cm long, whereas in a man it can be as
long as 20cm,’ explains Christopher Eden, a consultant urologist at the Royal
Surrey County Hospital, Guildford.
That’s why women are more prone to urinary infections as there is a
shorter journey up the urethra for bacteria.
BEER BELLIES Vs PODGY HIPS
Women tend to put on weight more easily — men have a higher proportion
of lean muscle mass, which means they burn calories more efficiently.
That’s why men who weigh the same as women can eat 300 calories a day
more without putting on weight.
‘The male resting metabolic rate is higher than a woman’s so a man
needs more calories to maintain the same weight as a woman does,’ says Dr David
Ashton, medical director of the Healthier Weight centres.
Men tend to put on weight around their middles — known as belly or
visceral fat — while women tend to accumulate it around thighs and hips.
Belly fat has been linked to a higher risk of diabetes, heart disease
and high cholesterol.
‘However fat around the hips and thighs has no such impact — it may
even be protective against heart disease,’ adds Dr Ashton.
One advantage of women carrying more body fat than men is they are
better insulated from the cold.
‘So if a man and woman fall into the North Sea, the woman has a better
chance of survival,’ adds Dr Ashton.
But it may also explain why women feel the cold more. When cold, our
bodies conserve heat by reducing the blood flow to the skin.
The temperature of the skin then drops as the blood has been moved
below the layer of fat. Men won’t experience as big a change because they don’t
have the same fat distribution.
HOW WOMEN’S VOICES CHANGE
Men have deeper voices because their vocal cords are longer and thicker,
explains John Rubin, a consultant at the Royal National Throat, Nose and Ear
Hospital in London.
This difference evens out after the menopause when lack of oestrogen
can cause swelling in the vocal cords, which makes the female voice sound much
lower.
Both sexes have an Adam’s Apple, a lump of cartilage at the front of
the thyroid gland to protect the vocal cords. But because men have more
cartilage, it sticks out more, explains Dr Rubin.
THEY HAVE THINNER SKIN
Women are more vulnerable to wrinkles because they have thinner skin,
says Dr Sajjad Rajpar, a consultant dermatologist, from the Edgbaston Hospital
in Birmingham.
‘Because of their thinner skin, as they lose collagen with ageing, they
are more likely to develop lines and wrinkles.’
Collagen is a protein which gives skin its support and elasticity.
Men also have a higher collagen density — the ratio of collagen to skin
— which is why they may look younger for longer.
... BUT ARE LESS DISEASE-PRONE
Women may have a more active immune system. In an experiment involving
healthy male and female mice, a study by Queen Mary University, London, found
that the females were better prepared to fight infections and their bodies
suffered less damage after an infection.
It seemed to be because female mice had twice as many
infection-fighting white blood cells, and these were also more effective at
fighting bacteria.
However, it’s believed the female immune system can be too active,
which is why women are more vulnerable to auto-immune diseases, such as
rheumatoid arthritis, in which the immune system attacks the body’s own
tissues.
According to Dr Matthew Buckland, consultant immunologist at Barts
Health NHS Trust, one possibility is that estrogen increases activity of the
immune system while male hormones may dampen it down.
Research also found the female immune system ages more slowly, which
could help explain why women live longer than men.
Source:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2521029/Men-women-differences-Why-men-big-noses-women-wrinkles.html#ixzz2n2rNME8F
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