Women’s Health and Men’s Health: Differences and Similarities

He is young, healthy and, above all, male: the average test person for drug studies represents only part of society. In recent years, researchers have been focusing more and more on the different needs of men and women, because both groups often react very differently to the same drugs. Men and women also often deal with the subject of health very differently. So let’s take a closer look at the small difference between women’s health and men’s health.

Caution: woman! One reason that women are less often included in drug studies is the so-called Contergan scandal: It goes back to that Contergan pain reliever. The drug seemed as harmless as it was effective. However, in the middle of the last century it turned out that the drug too Malformations in unborn children. Subsequently, the pharmaceutical manufacturers no longer dared to include potentially pregnant women in drug studies. But the female cycle still puzzles the researchers, which could confuse them when evaluating the studies. The fact that women later go through this cycle when taking it still seems to be of secondary importance. And so, even today, the early phases of drug development in particular take place on healthy volunteers – and ideally they should young and manly be.

Medication for Men Only?

And mostly even the cells on which experiments are carried out in the Petri dish are male. For a long time it was assumed that we are all the same in our cells. And since the prototype cells on which the majority of medical research is conducted are male, even the very early stages of research are all about male health. Although more than half of all people are women, these seem to hardly exist in medicine so far.

Different symptoms

Not just our cells, but also them Symptoms of some diseases differ – sometimes even very dramatic. For example, women in Germany suffer from heart attacks less often than men. But they are also treated less often and their risk of death is significantly increased.
For example, a heart attack appears differently in women than in men. This is why women with a heart attack are often sent home untreated because their symptoms have not yet been assigned to the relevant trigger by every doctor. Here you can find one VideoHow to recognize a heart attack in women.

Medicines work differently

And they also differ in how drugs work in men and women:

• One tablet takes different lengths for its journey through the body – depending on whether it was taken by a woman or a man.
• Men and women differ in the amount of enzymes in their bodies. These molecules are necessary for the drugs to take effect. Therefore, one and the same tablet may have a different effect on a man than it does on a woman.
• The usually higher percentage of body fat in women also ensures that the Distribute active ingredients of drugs differently in the female body.
• And since the metabolism in a woman’s liver works differently than in a man, drugs often work differently.
• Because of these factors, women are more likely to have unwanted side effects to do.

Medicines with different effects

Because of these differences in women’s and men’s health, many commonly administered drugs act very differently on men and women. Here are some examples:

• Heart failure: The drug digoxin was found to be very effective in men – but it increases mortality by 4.2 percent in women. On the one hand, this may be due to the experimental set-up, in which the test subjects did not have exactly the same prerequisites, i.e. were not identical in age and previous illnesses. On the other hand, this may also be due to the fact that the drug works differently for women.
• high blood pressure: Especially in women, blood pressure medication often leads to side effects – which are even stronger than the actually desired effect. Since the drugs often work differently in men and women, blood pressure drugs in women are more likely to cause dizziness, nausea or disorders of kidney and liver function.
• Sleeping pills: Since the metabolism in women works differently than in men, sleeping pills are broken down more slowly in women and therefore have a longer effect.
• blood thinner: Men usually get blood thinners to prevent heart attacks. However, this does not work for women. On the other hand, the blood thinners can prevent a stroke.

Read also: Typically man, typically woman: have these role models become obsolete?

Be careful with admission

There are clear rules for the approval of a drug: If a drug is only tested on one gender, then it will only be approved for men or women. For example, many drugs against breast cancer or osteoporosis are only approved for women. Although women get it much more often, men can occasionally get breast cancer or bone loss. For example, a drug against chronic constipation was only approved for men after further studies with enough men had been carried out.

Women’s health and men’s health: research is taking a closer look

A study by the Charité, the GendAge Project, examines how gender equitable medicine can look like. The project is committed to gender-sensitive prevention of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases in older adults. The researchers want to find out what influence the gender on the development of cardiovascular diseases. On this basis, they want to develop targeted and personalized preventive and therapeutic approaches.

Psychological differences

In addition to the purely physical, there are also psychological differences: According to the World Health Organization, twice as many women suffer from depression as men. depressions are not only the most common mental health problem for women, but are often more persistent in women than in men and are experienced more intensely. On the one hand, this is due to the fact that women tend to be more proactive about prevention and also take care of their mental health, while men are more likely – if at all – to go to the doctor about physical symptoms.

However, especially when it comes to psychological issues, researchers fear that they might end up with the so-called Gender bias subject. By this they mean that women tend to be assigned more depression or borderline personality disorders, while men are more likely to be diagnosed with antisocial disorders – even if a diagnosis that is rather untypical for the gender would be more appropriate. That is why the WHO demands at this point more research with a gender perspective.

Men are more likely to drink too much

Against it is Alcohol addiction rather under Men Widespread: The number of alcohol-dependent men is more than double that of women. In developed countries, around one in five men, but only one in 12 women, will develop alcohol addiction at some point in their lives. Men are also over three times more likely to be diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder than women.

Women are pension professionals

While some men look too deep into the bottle, many women look to the future. This is why women tend to be more likely to forward thinking and put on more preventive health care. You are much more likely to go to preventive care and pay more attention to possible symptoms of the disease. In addition, they would like to fight diseases in the long term instead of getting rid of symptoms in the short term. Men, on the other hand, seem more inclined to find a quick fix. A study by the Federal Statistical Office sees this as one of the reasons why women live up to five years longer than men.

What women should look out for when seeing a doctor

As long as there is still an imbalance in medicine, women should bring a little more self-confidence and a thirst for knowledge into the consulting room:

• Ask your doctor and pharmacist about possible side effects, especially for women. If these seem inappropriately strong to you, ask about a possible alternative.
• If the dose or the effect of a drug seems too high to you, hold Consultation with your doctor: whether the dosage can possibly be reduced.
• Google as little as possible. There is a lot on the internet dangerous half-knowledge, that is often more unsettling than it helps.
• Take your body’s signals seriously and, if in doubt, ask an: n Expert: in.

Prevention is important for everyone

Despite all the differences, the following applies to both men and women: Prevention is important. The check-up from 35 is important for both genders, as is the annual visit to your dentist. In addition, men should regularly attend testicular cancer prevention, while women should make early detection of breast cancer and cervical cancer a priority. In this way, men as well as women can lead healthy lives for a long time.

Learn more about the #weltverbesserer

More #weltverbessern:

• Migraine triggers: knowledge helps prevent
• Equality and equality are not the same
• Relationships: Monogamous, Polygamous, or LAT? The future of partnership

You might also be interested in these articles

• Making the world a better place: 20 things you can start doing right away

• Leave your comfort zone: 8 tips to help you do this

• Self-optimization mania: stop optimizing yourself!

• Why body shaming is of no use to anyone

• Kindly please: 5 tips on how to do this

• Be happy: Tips from happiness researchers, philosophers & Co.

• Media literacy: So you have your cell phone under control and not your cell phone you

• After accusations of racism: Bahlsen changes the name of the type of cookie

• Watch out women: Pink Tax – that’s behind the “women tax”