Men and women do not react the same way to stress. The fairer sex has a much more defensive reaction which exposes them to greater risk of cardiovascular disease.
Dr. Bianca D’Antono, a professor at the Université de Montréal Department of Psychiatry and a Montreal Heart Institute researcher, says, "Our findings suggest that women who are more defensive are at increased cardiovascular risk, whereas low defensiveness appears to damage the health of older men."
The Journal of Psychophysiology reports that 118 women and 81 men participated in a study. Those aged 20 to 64 were placed in four stressful situations of varying intensity.
The investigation was led by scientists from the Université de Montréal and the Montreal Heart Institute in collaboration with colleagues from the Université du Québec à Montréal and McGill University.
The results show that women adopt a defensive attitude about the fear of social judgments more quickly and have higher blood pressure. Men over 50 experienced the same phenomenon, but were less defensive.
Doctors point out that stress is essential to human beings’ survival because it hones our protective reflexes. Without these reflexes we would expose ourselves to big risks.
On the other hand, too much stress is the cause of many sicknesses and diseases, including certain types of cancers. Stress often promotes the development of the latter.