Women are far more likely to suffer from headaches than men

Women are far more likely to suffer from headaches than men

Despite the male species’ frequent agonizing bouts of man flu a new survey has revealed that women experience 56 spells of aches and pains a year compared to just 41 for men.

The survey also found that women are more likely to suffer from headaches than men, and tend to get headaches more frequently with 53% of women experiencing headaches at least once a month, compared to 35% of men. However men are suffering more than us in the hangover stakes with 23% of them having frequent hangovers, once a month or more, compared to 13% of women.

Psychologist, Dr Linda Papadopoulos explains that there’s some interesting psychology around people thinking they'll just wait and see if pain will go away on its own - which it rarely does. Further statistics from the survey show that over 13 million women could be suffering from pain unnecessarily as many of them are not administering pain relief quickly enough. Also waiting just a couple of hours before treating pain equates to 97 hours of unnecessary agony each year.

A new website, www.painprofiles.com, is launching to help people better manage common aches and pains, but this new research reveals British pain levels are at a ten-year high due to modern, busy lifestyles.

Dr Linda explains: “Pain is a fact of life and can affect us almost every day – from muscle sprains and period pain to headaches and hangovers. The experience of pain can make us feel needlessly irritable; the way we respond to it has to do with a lot of things including our gender, our culture even our personality. In fact the way we deal with and respond to pain can have a knock-on effect on many parts of our lives – from relationships to work performance.”

The website invites you to take part in an interactive quiz which reveals your pain personality. Each Pain Profile receives bespoke advice to help the UK best manage pain next time it strikes, with Dr Linda providing great lifestyle tips so everyone really can make the most of life.

Jessica Watson – Female First