Latest news with #AdamBode
Daily Mirror
18-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mirror
Simple reason why women get worse hangovers than men - it's not what you think
If you think your tolerance for alcohol is worse than the men in your life, you're right - we ask the experts why ladies can't handle booze was well as lads... Men and women may look like they operate the same on the outside, but research shows we are very different when it comes to some things... from healing to heartbeats and even the amount we blink. Here are just a few ways that men and women differ in surprising ways... Men fall in love faster than women Despite their reputation for being the less romantic gender, a new study has found men fall in love twice as fast as women. A team of researchers quizzed more than 800 young people aged 18 to 25 in 33 countries who described themselves as being in love for a study in the Biology of Sex Differences earlier this month. They found that the men tended to fall in love about a month before women on average – over around four weeks, compared to two months for females. Not only did the men in the age group fall in love more quickly, they also reported falling in love more often: 2.6 times, compared to 2.3 times for women. Researchers have put the reason down to our hunter-gatherer past, when women had to be more careful about committing to a mate who would stick around to help care for their offspring. According to study author, biological anthropologist Adam Bode, from The Australian National University: 'Men will have fallen in love sooner than females because the male fitness landscape favours quantity of potential mates over quality, whereas the opposite is true for females.' Women get drunk more quickly We've all been through it. The throbbing headache. The dry mouth. The feeling you could throw up at any moment. But if after a heavy night your male partner feels back to normal sooner than you do, it's not because you've drunk more. It may be down to your gender. Research has found women feel the effects of alcohol sooner because they have much less of the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase in their stomachs, which breaks down alcohol before it enters the bloodstream. This means more alcohol, a toxin, enters the bloodstream unprocessed. The result is that women feel its effects more on their brains – and their livers have to work harder to process it. 'Females have only about one-fifth as much of this enzyme… so women literally get more effect, ounce for ounce, than men,' explains Columbia University's Dr Marianne Legato, founder of The Foundation for Gender-Specific Medicine in New York. Women have hangovers for longer To make matters worse, women also suffer with hangovers longer. In 2003, researchers at the University of Missouri, US, surveyed over 1,230 students. Women complained of tiredness, dehydration, headaches, nausea, and vomiting more severely the next day than men who'd drunk similar amounts, and it took them longer to shake off symptoms. One reason is that as well as having less of the enzyme they need to break down alcohol, they also have smaller livers. This means their bodies have to work harder for longer to remove the alcohol from their systems. Psychologist Wendy Slutske, who led the research, says: 'This finding makes biological sense –women tend to weigh less and have lower percentages of body water. So they achieve higher degrees of intoxication and more hangovers per alcoholic unit.' Men's wounds heal slower than women's Cut your finger? If you're a man, you may find it takes longer to heal than a similar injury would for your female partner. This is because men have slower healing rates than women at all ages, according to a 2009 study in the Journal of Dermatological Science. One possible reason is that men's skin is around 20 to 25% thicker than women's. This means there is more skin thickness for the body to repair before a wound is healed fully. However, while men's wounds may take longer to heal, the downside is that women's skin ages faster, particularly after menopause. This is because men's skin is thicker due to the effect of the male hormone testosterone. This hormone helps give male skin a higher density of the elastin and collagen scaffolding that keeps skin firm – and this gives male complexions more resilience over time. By contrast, women owe much of their skin thickness, moisture and suppleness more to the effect of the female sex hormone oestrogen. When this drops off after menopause, it leads to a drop in collagen at a rate of about 2% per year, while men's collagen levels decline much more slowly. Combined with a thinner skin, this means women's skin is ageing faster by the time both genders hit their 50s. Men get hungry faster If your male partner complains he's already hungry while you're still full after your last meal, he's not just being greedy – he really does digest his food faster. Researchers have found that men's food moves about a fifth more quickly through their bodies than it does in women. Men's stomachs also empty faster because they have bigger volume and make more acid to break food down. According to gastroenterologists, it takes a woman around 28 hours to completely digest and excrete a meal, compared to around 24 hours for men. Women also have fewer bowel movements. Part of the reason is that women have a slightly longer colon than men, with an added 10 centimetres, so their food has to travel further. Research has also found that female sex hormones alter the make-up of the digestive bile – so women have fewer salts to dissolve foods compared with men. The female heart beats faster The heart has its own electrical system that sends signals telling it when to contract and pump blood. These signals originate from a group of cells in the right atrium, called the sinus node, the heart's pacemaker. The female heart is about two-thirds the size of a man's, weighing around 120g compared to 180g. However, because the female organ is smaller, it has to beat slightly faster to make up for it and distribute the blood around the body: 78 and 82 beats for an adult woman, compared to between 70 and 72 beats per minute for a man of the same age, according to a 2014 study in the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research. According to the researchers: 'This is largely due to the size of the heart, typically smaller in females than males. The smaller female heart, pumping less blood with each beat, needs to beat at a faster rate to match the larger male heart's output.' Women blink more often and faster Every minute we blink repeatedly to spread optical fluids over the surface of our eyes to keep them moist. However, women tend to blink slightly more often and more quickly than men, around 19 times a minute for females versus 11 for males, according to a 2008 study in the journal Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics. Experts believe the reason is down to hormone differences, which contribute to the different make-up of this lubrication, which is made up of mucus, water and oil. According to eye surgeon Glenn Carp of the London Vision Clinic: 'Men have more testosterone which holds these tears together better and keeps their eyes well moistened.' Female hormones may be another reason women blink more. We don't know why but studies have found women blink the most when they are taking contraceptive pills containing oestrogen.
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Men Tend to Fall in Love Faster Than Women, New Study Shows
It sets your heart racing, it puts butterflies in your stomach, and is a non-stop distraction for your mind – but that feeling we call love is something men fall into more quickly than women, according to new research. A team of researchers in Australia and New Zealand dug into survey data from 808 adults. The participants were aged between 18 and 25, and all described themselves as currently being in love. "The study spans across 33 different countries in Europe, North America, and South Africa," says biological anthropologist Adam Bode, from Australian National University (ANU). "We're most interested in whether biological sex influences the occurrence, progression, and expression of romantic love." The questions used in the study were comprehensive: they covered the timing and intensity of falling in love, the number of times the participants had fallen in love, and how obsessed they were with their partners. After some statistical processing, the data showed that the men tended to fall in love about a month ahead of the women on average – possibly because the onus is on men to show commitment to attract a partner, the researchers suggest. Men fall in love slightly more often than women do, according to the study, but are a little less committed. The women tended to spend more time obsessively thinking about their partner, and were slightly more romantically intense in their love. Men were also more likely to fall in love before the relationship had become 'official', with 30 percent of the male study participants reporting this timing compared to less than 20 percent of the women. "This is the first study to investigate differences between women and men experiencing romantic love, using a relatively large cross-cultural sample," says Bode. "It is the first convincing evidence that women and men differ in some aspects of romantic love." The team also ran the figures while accounting for extra factors that may influence our feelings of love, including age, and the ratio of men to women in the country of each participant. Most of the differences reduced but still held, though the differences in commitment disappeared. There were some interesting findings around gender equality too, with those in countries with higher gender equality falling in love less often, showing less commitment, and being less obsessed with their partners, broadly speaking. This suggests social norms also have an impact on our feelings of love, as well as the evolutionary pressures of needing to find a mate and keep our species alive – something the researchers are keen to investigate further. "Romantic love is under-researched given its importance in family and romantic relationship formation, its influence on culture, and its proposed universality," says Bode. "We want to help people understand it." The research has been published in Biology of Sex Differences. Legendary Female Free-Divers Reveal Evolution in Action on South Korean Island Here's How Long You Need to Form a Habit, And 8 Tips to Stick With It This Memory Technique Primes The Brain to Absorb More Information
New York Post
24-04-2025
- General
- New York Post
Scientists find there are four types of lovers — including one that can't stop having sex
Lovers are a lot like hot sauce — they range from 'mild' to 'intense.' Australian scientists have boiled romantic lovers down into four categories — with the most extreme said to make whoopee up to 20 times per week, according to a first-of-its-kind study published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences. 'The bottom line is that we don't all love the same,' said Adam Bode, head researcher and PHD student at the Australian National University in Canberra, reported. 3 Libidinous lovers reportedly made love 10 times a week on average, sometimes hitting 20 sessions in the sack. New Africa – Bode, who specializes in romantic love and human mating, felt that this field was woefully 'under-researched given its importance in family and romantic relationship formation, its influence on culture and its proposed universality.' As such, he wanted to blaze a trail in the realm of boudoir scholarship. 'While there is evidence of variation in the psychological expression of romantic love, to our knowledge, no one has attempted to directly empirically investigate this phenomenon,' he wrote. To shed light on the seemingly taboo topic, Bode and his team pulled stats from the Romantic Love Survey 2022, a dataset using data from over 1,500 people spanning 33 different countries. They then categorized 809 young adults who were in love based on commitment, obsessive thinking, emotional intensity, and sex frequency. Participants were also asked about various habits, such as how often they drink alcohol, whether they're on antidepressants or if they drive dangerously. From these results, researchers were able to group the respondents into four very hot sauce-esque categories: mild, moderate, intense, and libidinous. 3 Moderate lovers were the best represented in this carnal quartet, comprising a whopping 40% of all lovers. Vasyl – Mild lovers, who made up 20% of all lovers, displayed the lowest levels of all the romantic love categories, from commitment to sexual activity. Only 25% reported that their partner was in love with them, and they reportedly had sex twice a week on average. 'They have fallen in love the greatest number of times, have been in love for the shortest length of time, and are most likely to be male and heterosexual,' added Bode. Moderate lovers were the best represented in this carnal quartet, comprising a whopping 40% of all lovers. They were defined as 'entirely unremarkable' due to their staid romantic love traits, including 'relatively low intensity and relatively low obsessive thinking, relatively high commitment, and relatively moderate frequency of sex,' per Bode. 3 These findings have implications for the evolution of romantic love,' said Bode (not pictured) Prostock-studio – These hanky panky plain Janes reportedly had sex 2.5 times per week on average. On the other end of the spectrum were 'intense romantic lovers,' making up 29% of the lovers, and described by researchers as 'head over heels' types with high-intensity scores in every category. 'These lovers scored the highest intensity, highest obsessive thinking, highest commitment, and relatively high frequency of sex,' said Bode, who had the highest proportion of people who fell in love before their romantic relationship started. The cohort, which reportedly got frisky three times a week on average, was also the only group with more females (at 60%) than males. Then, of course, there were the libidinous romantic lovers — the proverbial freaks in the sheets. Comprising the smallest cluster (just 9%), these sex fiends reportedly made love 10 times a week on average, sometimes hitting 20 sessions in the sack. Coincidentally, they were the least likely to report being anxious, worried or depressed. Libidinous lovers also demonstrated high levels of emotional intensity, commitment, and obsessive thinking and many were in serious relationships despite not living with their partners. From these findings, researchers deduced that 'variation is a necessary component for evolution' and different groups represent different strategies in terms of mate choice, courtship, sex, and pair bond formation.' 'This study will help facilitate ideas for future research, and these findings have implications for the evolution of romantic love,' said Bode. 'Humans may still be evolving in terms of how they express romantic love.'
Daily Mail
24-04-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Revealed: The four types of LOVERS, according to science - including one group that has sex 10 times a week
It's often seen as a taboo subject. But a new study is finally lifting the lid on our sex lives. Scientists from the Australian National University surveyed more than 800 people about their love lives, including how many times they have sex per week. Their results suggest that there are four key types of lovers, ranging from 'mild' to 'libidinous'. Mild lovers make up around 20 per cent of the population, and typically have sex twice a week. At the other end of the scale are libidinous lovers, who have sex 10 times a week on average. 'The libidinous romantic lovers are the smallest cluster (9.64%) and exhibit relatively high intensity, relatively high obsessive thinking, relatively high commitment, and exceptionally high frequency of sex,' the researchers explained in their study. So, what type of lover are you? Scroll down for the descriptions. There have already been countless studies on sex and love. However, until now, the psychological expression of romantic love has been largely unexplored. Writing in their study, published in Personality and Individual Differences, the team, led by Adam Bode, wrote: 'While there is evidence of variation in the psychological expression of romantic love, to our knowledge, no one has attempted to directly empirically investigate this phenomenon. 'Understanding variation in romantic love as an interaction between genes and the environment can shed light on one necessary component of traits subject to evolution.' To get to the bottom of it, the researchers enlisted 809 participants aged 18-25, who reported being in love with a romantic partner. The participants were surveyed across four key measures - intensity of love, obsessive thinking, commitment, and frequency of sex. They were also asked about various habits, including how often they drink alcohol, whether they drive dangerously, and whether or not they were on antidepressants. An analysis of the results revealed that the participants fell into four main groups. At the lowest end of the scale were 'mild romantic lovers', who made up 20 per cent of the group, and had sex twice a week on average. Mild lovers were notably characterised by the lowest scores across all four primary variables. 'They have fallen in love the greatest number of times, have the shortest length of time in love, were the least likely to have fallen in love before commencement of their romantic relationship (19.75%), fell in love the longest length of time after having started a romantic relationship, and had the lowest proportion whose partner is 'definitely' in love with them (25.31%),' the researchers said. Mild lovers were more likely to be male (58.64 per cent) than female, and had the least satisfying relationships. What's more, they were the most likely group to report risky driving, drinking alcohol, and taking drugs. Next up were 'moderate romantic lovers', who made up 40.9 per cent of the group, and had sex 2.5 times a week on average. 'The moderate romantic lovers exhibit relatively low intensity, relatively low obsessive thinking, relatively high commitment, and relatively moderate frequency of sex,' the researchers explained. Moderate romantic lovers were more likely to be male (57.7 per cent) than female, and were the least likely to have children. In addition, they were the least likely group to be on antidepressants. The third group was 'intense romantic lovers', who made up 29 per cent of the population and had sex three times per week on average. 'By all accounts, this cluster is intensely in love,' the researchers said. 'They have the highest proportion who fell in love before their romantic relationship (28.57%) and the lowest proportion of unreciprocated love (3.78%).' Intense romantic lovers were the only group with more females (60 per cent) than males, and had the lowest proportion reporting risking driving, drinking alcohol, taking drugs, or smoking cigarettes. Finally, the last group was 'libidinous romantic lovers', who made up just 9.6 per cent of the particiapnts, and had sex 10 times per week on average. 'They are most notably characterized by extremely high frequency of sex,' the researchers said. Libidinous romantic lovers were slightly more likely to be male than female, and had the highest quality of life. They also were the least likely to report being anxious, worried, or depressed. The researchers say the findings reflect the fact that 'variation is a necessary component for evolution'. 'That variation has been demonstrated in this study indicates that it is possible that romantic love is still subject to evolutionary selection,' the team said. 'It may also indicate that different groups represent different strategies in terms of mate choice, courtship, sex, and pair bond formation.' The four types of lovers 1. Mild lovers 20% of the population Fall in love often but for short amounts of time More likely to be male than female Introverted Have sex twice a week on average 2. Moderate lovers 41% of the population More likely to be male than female Least likely to have children Least likely to be on antidepressants Have sex 2.5 times a week on average 3. Intense lovers 29% of the population Most intensely in love More likely to be female than male Highest relationship satisfaction Have sex 3 times a week on average 4. Libidinous lovers
The Guardian
28-02-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
Sex 20 times a week? New study identifies four types of romantic lover
New research has identified four types of romantic lover, including one that has sex up to 20 times a week. The research, published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, categorised lovers as mild romantic, moderate romantic, intense romantic, and libidinous romantic. Lead author, Australian National University PhD candidate in biological anthropology Adam Bode, defined romantic love as 'a motivational state typically associated with a desire for long-term mating with a particular individual' – and one 'that arose some time during the recent evolutionary history of humans'. 'It occurs across the lifespan and is associated with distinctive cognitive, emotional, behavioural, social, genetic, neural, and endocrine activity in both sexes. Throughout much of the life course, it serves mate choice, courtship, sex, and pair-bonding functions.' Bode said that definition was 'not perfect' but was 'the scientifically most useful and most precise'. He plans to update it to include the age of the onset of romantic love, to note that it 'doesn't have all its features until puberty', and that it is associated with the early stages of a romantic relationship. According to the study, the romantic love stage can be measured through changes in hormones and blood neurotransmitter levels and is thought to last up to two years, after which it transitions to 'companionate love'. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email In some cases it persists longer. Bode said this was 'the first paper to empirically show that we don't all love the same'. 'That seems pretty obvious, but science just hasn't shown it before,' he said. The researchers, including experts from the University of Canberra and the University of South Australia as well as ANU, used the Romantic Love Survey 2022 of 1,556 people, the world's largest dataset of people in love. This longitudinal study across 33 countries selected 809 people aged 18 to 25, who self-reported being in love. And among them, Bode's team identified four major 'clusters'. Mild: About one in five – 20.02% – fell into this cluster, characterised by 'the lowest intensity, lowest obsessive thinking, lowest commitment, and lowest frequency of sex'. This group also had the lowest proportion of people who thought their partner was 'definitely' in love with them – just 25.31% – and the lowest proportion having sex, at 82.72%. Moderate: About four in 10 – 40.91% – landed in this category, which Bode described as 'fairly stock-standard' – or in the words of the journal article, 'entirely unremarkable'. Those in this category were more likely to be male, and less likely to have children. This group had 'relatively low intensity, relatively low obsessive thinking, relatively high commitment, and relatively moderate frequency of sex'. Intense: This category described about one in three – 29.42% – of survey respondents, who Bode described as 'crazy in-love' types. They were characterised by 'the highest intensity, highest obsessive thinking, highest commitment, and relatively high frequency of sex'. About six in 10 people in this group were female. Libidinous: About one in 10 – 9.64% – were libidinous romantic lovers, who had sex an average of 10 times a week and up to 20 times. They were characterised as 'relatively high intensity, relatively high obsessive thinking, relatively high commitment, and exceptionally high frequency of sex'. This group were slightly more likely to be male, and had the highest proportion of people in a committed relationship but not living together. The team's research measured people's romantic intensity, obsessive thinking, commitment and sexual frequency to come up with the categories. Bode noted other interesting associations, including that libidinous lovers were also more likely to want to smoke cigarettes, travel and spend more money. The study measured the intensity of romantic love by the Passionate Love Scale (or PLS), a 'robust measure of the cognitive, emotional and behavioural characteristics of romantic love' used cross-culturally, developed in 1986. The research noted that obsessive thinking about a loved one has been recognised in theories about the understanding and mechanisms of romantic love. It cited previous research positing that obsessive thinking helps with bonding and faithfulness, that commitment plays a role in forming bonds, and that sex is a function of romantic love (the 2022 survey participants were told to define sex by 'whatever they thought it meant'). The authors of the new study suggested it might 'be fruitful' to further explore variables of sex, gender and sexual orientation, as well as the impact on mood of romantic love, and its effect on relationships over time. They also recommended future research focus on cultural or ethnic variations in the expression of romantic love, as well as the role of gender inequality. The study noted that the survey at its heart was limited to young, English speaking adults, many of them from Weird (western, educated, industrialised, rich and democratic) countries. 'Romantic love is under-researched given its importance in family and romantic relationship formation, its influence on culture, and its proposed universality and we want to help world researchers understand it,' Bode said. 'These findings have implications for the evolution of romantic love. 'Humans may still be evolving in terms of how they express [it].'
