In my morning news reading today, I came across this article about the role sex hormones play in how the brain’s neurotransmitters communicate chemical signals of pain, explaining why women and men feel pain differently and pain treatments often work differently for women and men.

While this isn’t technically a gender communication difference, Dr. Marcus says this indicates that women aren’t just bigger complainers: Research studies consistently show that women are more sensitive to pain than men. They show that women feel pain at a lower stimulus than men, and pain becomes intolerable to women sooner than men.