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by watergirl2 on July 13th, 2006

watergirl2

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Do redheads have a lower tolerance for pain?

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  • by DenverYay on July 13th, 2006

    DenverYay

    Meh, this one is a question I had a few years ago and had it answered very well by my primary care physician (who, coincidentally did a study on it a while ago).

    No, they do no have a lower tolerance. And no, redheads in general have no special pain tolerances. However, those redheaded women have a special ability...

    Redheaded women have an innate ability to tolerate more pain than other people.

    In studies on "redhead" mice, which actually have blonde fur but carry a similar gene to the one that causes red hair in humans, scientists from the Human Genetics Unit in Edinburgh, Scotland were able to target the pain-reducing mechanism. These red-haired mice have a similar ability as human female redheads to withstand higher pain thresholds compared with other mice and require less anesthetic to block out certain kinds of pain.

    This Scottish study was a follow-up to research conducted at McGill University in Montreal several years ago. While testing the painkilling drug pentazocine, the McGill researchers discovered that the same gene that gives women red hair and fair skin also plays a role in the body's natural pain suppression system. However, it doesn't work for male carrot-tops. Redheaded women can tolerate more pain than anyone else, including men with red hair and men and women who do not have red hair - the reason for which I'm not sure (the chromosomal difference, possibly). The others all had a similar and much lower tolerance to pain than flame-haired females. Another possibility is women carry more of that pain reducing gene than red-haired men do. See below for another possibility better answered by neuro-science.

    "While we believe pain is the same in all women of all hair colors, our study shows women with red hair respond better to the painkilling drug we tested than anyone else--including men," lead researcher Jeffrey S. Mogil, a professor of pain studies at McGill, said in a news release.

    Why would the gene that gives red hair and fair skin--identified as Mc1r--work differently in redheaded men and women? Mogil told Reuters that men and women are using different pain pathways. "If they were using the same pathways, then the redhead gene would have the same impact for both sexes," he added.

    When we experience pain, our bodies attempt to dull the discomfort by releasing natural substances that are similar to medications like morphine. The gene Mc1r influences the pathway through which the body doles out those naturally occurring painkillers in women. It appears that in most people, the Mc1r gene produces a protein that reduces the ability of opioid drugs to block pain; however, in redheaded women, who have a non-functional version of the gene, such painkillers are free to work unhindered.

    The goal of this ongoing research is to determine if there is a natural mechanism at work in redheads that can be adapted to help develop new painkillers and anesthetics for the rest of us.

    Thanks to Netscape for help with the answer. Hope you enjoyed. Yay!

    Comments

    • Tolerance to pain is also directly related to the level of the neuropeptide Substance P in the body. The greater the amount of Substance P, the greater the perception of pain.

      RedJohn

      by RedJohn on July 13th, 2006

    • As I recall, this is absolutely true - but I don't know how it relates to read-headed women and their pain tolerance... I guess it doesn't really. It more (if I remember correctly) related to the CNS and mood disorders in all humans.

      DenverYay

      by DenverYay on July 13th, 2006

    • I could have told those numb nut doc's that.
      just look at the higher ratio of nature redhead women in the bdsm lifestyle.

      zwatcher

      by zwatcher on September 9th, 2008

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