Why is it that women are stronger than men?

Our hormones help our body

Women of reproductive age are 14% more likely to survive a traumatic injury than men, say researchers at the John Hopkins University School of Medicine – possibly because our hormone mix means we’re less likely to develop complications like pneumonia during recovery. Professor John Upham believes female hormones definitely play a role in our enhanced immunity. He exposed a group of men and a group of women to the cold virus and found that women’s T cells produce more of the cold-killing substance interferon gamma. This is the case in women under 50. “After this there was no difference between the sexes,” he says. “This makes it likely hormones such as oestrogen or progesterone are involved – possibly to give women a biological advantage in their childbearing years.”