Women Have More Active Brains Than Men — Largest Research Till Date!

Women have more brain activity and blood flow than men says largest research on brain images.

Wednesday, August 9, 2017, 15:07

A recently published article in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease has stirred up the age-old debate whether men and women are fundamentally different by shining light on the fact that women have a lot more brain activity and blood flow in the brain as compared to men.

Sourcing the scans from 9 different medical centres, the researchers studied over 46,000 images to uncover information that has the potential to explain why men and women suffer from different brain diseases.

High Risk Of Brain Disease

Men and women have statistically different risk rates of developing various brain diseases.

While women tend to be at a high risk of developing Alzheimer's, anxiety disorders, insomnia, and depression, men tend to be at a greater risk of having ADHD and conduct-related problems.

In fact, men on an average are incarcerated for disorderly conduct 1400 times more than women.

Knowing this, the findings of this new study has the potential to help improve our understanding on why men and women are at a risk of developing vastly different brain diseases.

Largest Brain Study In History

Using SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography), the researchers studied 128 areas of the brain under two conditions - at rest, and while performing simple cognitive tasks.

The findings showed women have more blood flow in their prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for impulse control, improved focus, empathy and intuition. And also in the limbic region of their brain, which is known for being the emotional centre.

Men, on the other hand, had greater blood flow in the cerebellum and other areas of the brain responsible for improving visual acuity and coordination.

Interestingly, this pattern was observed in both healthy individuals and those suffering from brain trauma, schizophrenia, ADHD and other brain disorders.

Are Men And Women Fundamentally Different?

While the masses like to debate for and against this subject, scientists have long known that men and women have more differences than unequal muscle mass and reproductive organs.

The following infographic sheds some light on some of these major differences between the sexes.