It is possible that the difference in mental health between men and women is influenced by the difference in 'internal receptive sensation' that perceives hunger and body temperature.



Many people associate 'human senses' with the five senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch, but apart from these, they perceive internal states such as hunger, heartbeat, and body temperature. There is also a sense of '

internal acceptance '. Studies have shown that gender differences in such receptive sensations affect mental health such as depression and anxiety disorders.

Sex differences in interoceptive accuracy: A meta-analysis --ScienceDirect
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0149763421005248

Differences in how men and women perceive internal body signals could have implications for mental health
https://theconversation.com/differences-in-how-men-and-women-perceive-internal-body-signals-could-have-implications-for-mental-health-172917

Receptive sensations are something that many people are not paying attention to, but they are important for the proper operation of the body's systems. For example, to detect and correct signs of imbalance, such as 'drink when you're thirsty,' 'take off your jacket when you feel too hot,' or 'rest when your heart rate is too high.' The sense of internal acceptance is useful.

In addition, the sense of internal acceptance contributes to many psychological processes such as decision making, social ability, and emotional well-being, so it is also important for people's mental health . Therefore, it has been suggested that disruption of internal receptive sensation is associated with mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, and eating disorders , and may be a common cause of many mental health-related physical symptoms. ..



Although it is known that receptive sensation is closely related to physical and mental health, little is known about how accurately men and women perceive internal signals of the body, and

past research results . It's different. Therefore, the research team combined and analyzed 93 different research data in order to more accurately examine the gender difference in internal receptive sensation.

Some of the studies conducted by the research team imposed subjects on the task of counting the heartbeat, asked if they felt a flash of light when the stomach contracted, and wore a device that interfered with breathing. Some of them were evaluated for their ease of breathing.

As a result of the analysis, it was found that there is a gender difference in the sense of internal acceptance. Compared to men, females were less accurate in heart-focused tasks and significantly less accurate in some lung-focused tasks. The research team said these differences could not be explained by the degree of effort the subject had during the task, weight, blood pressure, and other physiological factors. On the other hand, there was no clear gender difference in tasks related to the lungs and stomach, which are not the heart, but this may be due to the small number of studies.



The findings of this study, which states that there is a difference in the accuracy of internal acceptance sensation between men and women, may be important in understanding that many mental health problems such as depression and anxiety are more common in

women than in postpubertal men. I can't. In addition, the problem of receptiveness can affect many areas, including emotional, social and cognitive function, and can be a factor in determining a woman's well-being.

Regarding the gender difference in internal receptive sensation, research results that 'men use internal receptive signals such as the heart more than females when processing emotions' and 'female females have more internal receptive sensations than males' Research results such as 'I am paying attention' are also reported. The reason for the difference in receptive sensation between men and women is not clear, but it seems that physiological factors such as hormones and the influence of gender views on emotions and perception may be involved.

A 2021 study showed that training focused on receptive sensations reduced anxiety in adults with autism, and a better understanding of receptive sensations could also be used to treat psychiatric disorders. The research team argued that it might be important.



in Science, Posted by log1h_ik