Sex differences in how the body reduces pain.

If there's any chance this has anything to do with doctors ignoring women when they tell them they're in pain, it needs to be blasted across the airwaves.

I seriously doubt it's *the* explanation, but maybe it could account for some small sliver of it.

I would not have guessed that there was a difference between the sexes in meditation, but having heard so I am not overly surprised. While many practices (like, say, yoga) seem more or less evenly split between the sexes, when I think of meditation I do more strongly associate the practice with men (usually monks/ascetics). Who knew?