Have you ever noticed that under stress, men and women react completely differently? Under stress, male brain chemistry causes him to whine a bit. While female brain chemistry makes her discuss/share her stress. I’m going to show you a couple of examples of how men and women express stress differently. This can help you understand the expressions of a stressed male or female brain. Understanding the reaction can help you not feel negative about it.
man under stress
When a man is under stress, he usually requires “man time.” This time is considered cave time doing something meaningless like watching TV or being alone. He is not solving a problem or being required to complete a task at hand. This helps build his testosterone. More testosterone helps him deal better with stress when it comes.
When under stress, a man will usually complain. For example, if a man is working in his garden and you come out and ask him to fix a leaky pipe. He’s not necessarily angry or upset with you, but he may walk away grumbling as he searches for his tools to fix the pipe. This is how his brain is programmed to react.
Remember that the male brain is programmed to focus on the task at hand and he was focused on beautifying the garden. Then another task appeared before he could complete the task he was working on. Completing a task is very important for the male brain to create the necessary testosterone to make them feel accomplished, successful, and proud of a job well done. That’s when they feel less stressed… when the task at hand is complete.
The woman under stress
When a woman is stressed, she usually wants to talk to someone about it. She wants to share her feelings and emotions about the stress she is under. She wants someone to listen to her. She wants to feel that someone understands her stress. This generates oxytocin for her and therefore reduces her feelings of stress.
A stressed woman usually wants to talk about her stress and is often mistaken for complaints. She’s just doing what her brain is genetically designed to do. She has to talk about her stress to increase her oxytocin level. For example, when a woman is feeling stressed and her multi-task list seems overwhelming, she will not accept less as her male counterpart would think she should. She will only want to talk about her feelings of her stress and her overwhelm.
You may want to talk about different ways to manage your stress. You may even come up with an idea to manage your stress so well that you can add more to your list. You’d think this would add more stress to his already stressed brain. But your oxytocin-fueled brain is happiest when you talk about it and when it feels like you care and help with the many, many tasks on your to-do list.
A woman can better deal with her stress when oxytocin levels are high, so it is important that she engage in activities that increase oxytocin. Some of these include talking, sharing, taking care of someone, or something like taking care of a sick person, an animal, or even gardening, shopping, or getting pampered, like a massage or pedicure. It is important for a woman to keep her oxytocin levels high so that she can manage her stress in a healthy way.
