Women and men ‘wired up’ differently

THE old saying men are from Mars while women are from Venus could well be true after scientists discovered that the sexes’ brains are wired differently.

The latest study might have found new reasons why men and women suffer different symptoms and health problems such as heart disease.

Scientists testing the brain’s response to changes in blood pressure discovered that the different sexes had polar opposite reactions.

Men and women had opposite responses in the right front of the insular cortex, a part of the brain integral to the experience of emotions, blood pressure control and self-awareness.

The American research could explain why men and women have different heart and blood vessel issues.

Professor Paul Macey of UCLA said: “This is such a critical brain area and we hadn’t expected to find such strong differences between men and women’s brains.

“This region, the frontright insula, is involved with stress and keeping heart rate and blood pressure high.

“However, it’s also possible that this region is wired differently in men and women.

“We have always thought that the ‘normal’ pattern was for this right-front insula region to activate more than other areas, during a task that raises blood pressure.

“It’s possible the women had already activated this region because of psychological stress, so that when they did the physical test in the study, the brain region could not activate any more.”

One of the reasons behind this never being discovered before is because previous studies were only ever tested on male animals and men.