Stress tends to cause men to hole up. It tends to push women to find other women to hang out with and spend time together. According to a recent report, this means the study of how to treat stress has been entirely one-sided–and completely inapplicable to a whole sex. Whew. Talk about blinders…
Both sexes release a substance called oxytocin under stress, but testosterone tends to reduce the amount of this substance, and estrogen tends to increase it. And that’s the substance that leads women to reach out to tend children and to reach out to other women for bonding and friendship. And as lots of studies have already shown, an active social life (friends) is strongly associated with living longer–and enjoying it more. No wonder women tend to live longer than men.
