The female body is full of mysteries. From having a self-cleaning reproductive system to using more of the brain when making decisions, women have men beat in a number of unique ways. You are about to learn things that will amaze you, shock you, and gross you out.
Number 50: On average, men might be stronger than women, but female muscles are definitely more resilient. Research has shown that muscles in the female body not only stay stronger for longer compared to men, but they can also recover from damage more rapidly. Women also don’t tire quite as fast as men meaning that they can go harder for longer. Basically, the female body evolved to be a high endurance machine capable of doing incredible things.
Number 49: Not only do womens’ muscles last longer than males’, but they tend to live longer as well. This is because their bodies are built to withstand extreme trauma from childbirth and protecting their young. On average, women live between 5 to 6 years longer than men.
Some scientists think that this is because they take better care of their bodies and typically choose healthier lifestyles. However, women have also evolved to be extremely tough as a large number of healthy, strong females is vital to the survival of the species.
But lifestyle isn’t the only factor that contributes to female longevity; there is something even crazier about the female body that gives them a high life expectancy.
Number 48: The female immune system is a force to be reconned with.
Studies suggest that the female immune system is more powerful than their male equivalent.
One reason for this might be because they need to protect a developing fetus for nine months before giving birth. Having a strong immune system that is able to destroy pathogens before they can harm the baby is essential. Although, females have a higher rate of auto-immune diseases, which may also be linked to their active immune systems.
There is a surprising way that females can boost their immune system even more, and it has to do with sex.
Number 47: Recent studies have found that the female immune system can increase in efficiency if they have more sex. It was uncovered that women who have sex 2 to 3 times a week have 30% more IgA antibodies in their blood than people who did not have sex. IgA antibodies are one of the first lines of defense against foreign invaders and can be found in the mucus lining of the nose and airways. So, sex can give additional protection to the body, meaning the carnal act has other benefits besides just feeling good.
And speaking of sex, the female body has an organ that’s sole function is to provide pleasure.
Number 46: The clitoris has one purpose, and one purpose only: to provide the female with sexual satisfaction. There is no other organ in males or females that can claim the honor of only functioning as a pleasure center.
Number 45: The clitoris and penis are analogous structures. This is not super surprising when you think about it since we all start off as a single cell and then develop more or less in the same way. However, if a fetus contains the instructions to become a female, the genitalia cells will differentiate into a clitoris. Conversely, those same cells will become a penis if the fetus is programmed to become a male.
We are going to stick with the clitoris for a little while as it is an incredible organ.
Number 44: The clitoris continues to grow throughout a female’s life. By the time a woman reaches menopause, her clitoris is around 3 to 4 times larger than when she started puberty. This is fascinating because since the clitoris is responsible for pleasure, some scientists have hypothesized that a larger clitoris may play a role in more orgasms or at least more sexual satisfaction in mature women.
The thought is the larger the clitoris, the easier it is to stimulate.
Number 43: And speaking of stimulation, around 75% of women report that it is the stimulation of the clitoris that makes them orgasm, not intercourse itself.
Let’s take a step away from the female reproductive system for the moment and focus on another pleasure center of the body.
Number 42: Some women have reported that they are able to achieve orgasms just from the stimulation
of their nipples. A study published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine found that when the nipples are played with, the genital sensory cortex part of the brain becomes excited. This is the same region of the brain that is known to become active when a female is sexually satisfied through the clitoris or vagina. The research suggests that the nipples should not be neglected during sexy time, as they can provide women with a significant amount of pleasure.
Number 41: What’s even crazier is that the part of the brain which is aroused during sex and sexual stimulation can also be aroused when a female thinks about food. This is especially true when they have cravings connected to their menstrual cycles or pregnancy.
It is funny to think about how the stimulation a partner gives a female can be replaced with some chocolate or a juicy steak. It begs the question if women really need men at all?
Number 40: One breast is always larger than the other. Normally the size difference is barely
noticeable, but every female has a slight difference in size between their two boobs. There doesn’t seem to be a pattern to which breast will be bigger. But on average, the left breast usually is larger than the right. The size discrepancy varies from female to female, but it is improbable that a female will have two breasts of identical size and shape.
What makes someone biologically female? The answer to this question may be more complicated than you realize.
Number 39: A main indicator of whether someone is biologically female is their sex chromosomes.
There are two different sex chromosomes: X and Y. Females have two X chromosomes, while males have an X and a Y chromosome. However, it is possible for a female also to have an X and a Y chromosome.
When a sperm fertilizes an egg, half of the resulting cell’s chromosomes come from mom, and half come from dad. If dad passes on a Y chromosome, the baby will be biologically male unless there is a missing section of the transferred Y chromosome known as the SRY gene. This is the portion of DNA responsible for developing male traits such as the penis.
If the SRY gene is missing or damaged on the Y chromosome, the cells will revert to their default setting, creating a female. When the SRY gene is turned off, testosterone is not released in the amount needed to cause the cells to differentiate into a male body. This makes it possible for a female to have XY sex chromosomes.
Circadian rhythms are what help our bodies regulate its day to day processes. But the female body has a surprisingly long cycle.
Number 38: Women tend to go to bed and wake up earlier than men. There is a biological reason for this. The female circadian rhythm tends to be slightly faster than the males.
The biological day for a female is around six minutes shorter for males, which is why they tend to go to sleep and wake early. There doesn’t seem to be much benefit to this, but it may explain why more women report having insomnia than men do.
Over time this discrepancy between a female’s inner clock and the 24 hour day can really start to affect them negatively. Some women who have circadian rhythms that run extra fast struggle to stay awake and focused throughout the day because their body is telling them to go to sleep even if the sun is still up. This can also lead to restless nights and sleep deprivation.
There is no doubt that women are strong. Yet, they cry more often than males do.
This is not because they are more emotional, but because of the size of the tear ducts.
Number 37: Adult women cry about 5 times more a month than men do.
Women’s tear glands are actually anatomically different than men’s. They tend to be larger and have a different biochemical makeup, which leads to females crying more often than males. Also, women produce around 50% more prolactin in their bodies than males do, which is a hormone that regulates lactation. This molecule also plays a role in the production of tears.
It is the higher levels of prolactin and the biological differences in their tear ducts that are probably responsible for females crying more often than males, not that they are more emotional. In fact, many studies suggest females are more level-headed than men and are able to cope with emotional stress better.
The vagina is a surprisingly hostile place. Yet, there are creatures living there even though it is acidic.
Number 36: The pH level in the vagina is around 4.5, which makes the vaginal environment around the same acidity as wine and coffee. This is not the ideal environment for many creatures, which is one of the defense mechanisms the vagina has against foreign invaders.
However, there are a plethora of microbes that call the vagina home.
Number 35: A group of acid-producing bacteria called lactobacillus find the vagina a great place to live. In fact, they even help maintain high levels of acidity so they can thrive.
This, in turn, keeps other bacteria that can cause yeast and other types of infections away. Without a vaginal microbiome, a female’s reproductive system would be much more prone to diseases caused by harmful pathogens.
Number 34: The female reproductive system isn’t just damaging to pathogens; it can also make a sperm’s job very difficult. Almost every single sperm out of the millions ejaculated into a female during intercourse die before reaching the egg. This is why getting pregnant for some women can be so difficult. Sperm are hardy and can last up to 5 days in the female reproductive system. But more often than not, the hostile environment inside the female’s reproductive tract kills them within hours.
There are other creepy creatures that the female body seems to have an adverse effect to besides microbes and sperm.
Number 33: Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University conducted a study where they gauged the reactions of human babies when they were shown pictures of a human face versus a spider. What they found was that female babies spent more time looking at human faces than spiders. Males, on the other hand, spent about the same time looking at both. This may suggest that the female brain has evolved a natural awareness that those creatures can be harmful and should be kept away from. This is evolutionarily beneficial as females are much more vital to the continuation of the species than males are. If a male gets bit by a poisonous spider, he can still provide sperm even as he’s dying. If a female gets bit by a poisonous spider while pregnant, it could harm the offspring.
Number 32: Unfortunately for females, they are much more likely to suffer than males. This is because the pain that females feel is more intense. Scientists aren’t sure why this is, but it may have to do with hormones in the female body. It has been hypothesized that estrogen can dampen the body’s painkiller signals, which then amplifies the pain itself. This could
explain why females feel more severe pain even if the affliction is the same for both sexes.
Pain can even be amplified further by the female body in this next situation.
Number 31: Women need to plan ahead when looking into getting a root canal; otherwise, their bodies could turn against them. Estrogen not only dampens painkiller signals, but it can cause dry sockets in the mouth when there are high amounts of the hormone in the body. If a dry socket becomes infected, it’s reported to be one of the most painful experiences of someone’s life.
One way to avoid this catastrophe is to schedule dental work when estrogen levels are lower in the body. This is typically in the last week of the menstrual cycle.
Number 30: What do human females and sharks have in common? They both produce a compound
called squalene. In females, this molecule helps keep the vagina lubricated. In sharks, squalene is found in the liver. Although human females produce the same compound, we use shark squalene in moisturizers and skin creams. It acts as an emollient, which moistens the skin. This isn’t surprising as it does the same thing for the vagina. Surprisingly, scientists at the American Cancer Society have found that the squalene from sharks can also help reduce the effects of chemotherapy on normal human cells. It does this without inhibiting the chemotherapy drug’s effect on the cancerous cells. Scientists aren’t quite sure why this is, but more research is being done.
Number 29: Sometimes, women find that hair is clogging the shower drain. This isn’t surprising
as their pubic hair only lasts around three weeks before falling out. When compared to the lifecycle of hair on the head, this is an incredibly short amount of time. So, when cleaning the drain, there is a good chance that some of that hair being pulled out is from the pubic region.
Men can typically drink more alcohol than women. We’re not sure that’s something to be proud of, but the reason why has surprisingly little to do with body type.
Number 28: Most females can’t drink as much as males of a similar size because they produce less of the necessary stomach enzymes used to break down ethanol. This leads to higher intoxication levels as more and more ethanol gets into the bloodstream and circulates around the body. The result is that females tend to get drunker quicker than males do.
Another downside to drinking alcohol as a female is that the hangovers can be worse than for males. This is because the female body contains a lower percentage of water than the opposite sex, which causes worse dehydration, nausea, and headaches after drinking too much alcohol.
Number 27: It may sound crazy, but some females are born with not just one but two uteruses. As the fetus develops, the uterus starts as two separate tubes.
Over time they join together to create one large organ. However, sometimes a condition called uterus didelphys occurs, and a female is born with two separate uteruses. In unique circumstances, a second vagina might form as well. This creates a forked path within the body to the uteruses.
Number 26: The uterus is an amazing organ. It is incredibly elastic as it needs to stretch out a lot during pregnancy. How much does it stretch, you may be wondering? Normally the uterus is only around 4 to 5 inches long. However, during gestation, it can grow to many times that size. In fact, the uterus can extend all the way up to the belly button by around 20 weeks into the pregnancy.
The midsection of a female is full of tightly packed organs. This is exacerbated by the fact that there is a part of the digestive tract which is extra long in their bodies.
Number 25: The female body probably didn’t need to have anything else crammed in its midsection, but part of the colon called the sigmoid is longer in women than in men.
This is the end section of the large intestine where fecal matter is stored until the waste is ready to leave the body. Theoretically, this means that if a female held their bowel movement, which we definitely don’t recommend, they could have larger poops than a man.
Number 24: Everyone poops, even females.
Number 23: Having all of the reproductive organs and the extra portion of the sigmoid in the midsection means there is not much room for expansion. Everything is squeezed into such a small space that as the female body digests food and gas builds up, it can cause abdominal distress. This is just a fancy way of saying that females get more frequent stomach aches and release more gas after eating due to the limited space for expansion.
There is one fascinating fact about the female reproductive organ that seems almost unbelievable.
Number 22: Females are born with all of the eggs they will ever have already in their ovaries.
Around 6 to 7 million oocytes, or unformed eggs, are created during development. But when a female baby is born, she normally ends up with closer to 1 to 2 million eggs in her ovaries. As she ages, more and more eggs are destroyed, and their remnants are absorbed back into the body.
By the time a female reaches puberty, she has around 400,000 eggs. Then, when menopause occurs, there are about 1,000 eggs left in her ovaries.
The menstrual cycle occurs when an egg leaves the ovary and is not fertilized.
When this happens, there is bleeding, but not as much as you might think.
Number 21: Everyone’s body is different. Some females lose more blood than others during their menstrual cycle. However, on average, women lose around 4 tablespoons each month due to their period. It’s important to note that some females bleed a lot more than that, as they might have a heavier flow.
Number 20: A female’s period does not just cause pain in the midsection but can actually mess with the brain as well. The pain associated with the menstrual cycle causes the brain to lose focus.
Research has shown that this can hinder a female’s ability to do complex tasks while the body is trying to mitigate the pain from cramps and the shedding of the uterine lining.
But worry not, even when a female’s brain is distracted, they still have a leg up on men.
Number 19: In studies conducted around memory and the ability to retain information, women between the ages of 45 and 55 perform better in almost every category. Even mor impressive is that this study was conducted while the females were going through menopause, which is known to negatively affect memory recall. Yet, women still remembered things better than men, who had no biological excuse for their low scores. This means that throughout a female’s life, she will likely be able to recall and remember things much better than the males around her.
Number 18: Females have a strong connection between the two hemispheres of their brain.
When given a difficult task to solve, research has shown that women use many parts of the brain simultaneously rather than just sticking to one portion—men, on the other hand, over-engage a single section of the brain. This means that women might combine both logic and intuition when problem-solving, allowing them to think up better solutions more quickly than the opposite sex.
Number 17: There is no denying that women are better multitaskers than men. A possible reason for this was published in the Journal of Neuroscience.
The section of the brain called the corpus callosum makes sure that both hemispheres are communicating with one another. The female corpus callosum is larger than the male’s, which is theorized to be one of the main reasons why women can multitask with such high efficiency.
Females have some unique abilities when it comes to their senses. It is often said that
women are much more perspective than men, and there is a biological reason for this.
Number 16: The gene that allows people to see the color red is only found on the X chromosome. This means that, unlike males, females have two of these genes.
Researchers have found that the combination of a normal gene for seeing red and a mutated one allows females to see a broader spectrum of red-orange colors than males. The fact that males only have one copy of this gene also explains why more men are red colorblind than women. Females are also better at differentiating color hues in the yellow-green spectrum, which means they literally see the world differently than men do.
Number 15: Both men and women have the same ability to sense smells. However, women can learn to detect a particular scent much better than men can. This ability develops during a woman’s childbearing years, and Research at Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia has shown that women can smell certain aromas at 1/1,000th of their original concentration.
This likely has to do with hormones that are present in the body somehow making the olfactory neurons more sensitive. It may sound crazy, but females can even sense when their partner is stressed just by smelling the body odor on their shirt. And this isn’t the only sense that females have the upper hand in.
Number 14: Females have more tastebuds on their tongues than males. This means they have the ability to taste more flavors that might be hidden in food than men. It is also hypothesized that the extra tastebuds give females more sensitive and sophisticated palates.
Number 13: Women can experience multiple orgasms during sex. Once a male has orgasmed, he must wait for his refractory period to end before he can climax again.
Females don’t have this problem. They can just keep going, and going.
This brings us to a mysterious part of the female reproductive system: the G-spot.
Number 12: There is a belief that a magical portion of the female sex organ can cause an incredibly intense and pleasurable orgasm when stimulated. This has become known as the G-spot. The original name for this region was the Grafenberg zone, named after Ernst Grafenberg, the German physician who proposed the area existed. As of yet, there has been no actual,proof that the G-spot exists. The best guess of what the G-spot could be as of right now is that it is an internal extension of the clitoris. However, many doctors doubt it exists at all.
Another myth about the female body that needs to be debunked also has to do with sex, or the lack thereof.
Number 11: For centuries and even today, many people believe that the hymen needs to be intact
for a female to be considered a virgin. This is absolutely not true. The hymen is a thin layer of tissue that is located just inside the vagina. It is flexible but not very strong,
meaning that physical activities such as biking, horseback riding, or even inserting a tampon can stretch or tear the hymen. Just because a female’s hymen is broken does not mean she has had sex.
Although this next female fact may seem messy, it is actually part of the natural cleaning process.
Number 10: The female reproductive system will sometimes release discharge without warning. This can stain underwear, but it is a natural process that the body needs to do to make sure the vagina remains clean and infection-free.
Number 9: The vagina is full of folds and rugae, which are a series of ridges created by the folding of tissue. The reason that the female body needs to create discharge, and why it is so important for the vagina to remain clean, is because microbes can find refuge in these folds. The ridges are caused by an increase in estrogen that thickens the vaginal tissue. After menopause or while a woman is nursing a newborn, she produces less estrogen.
This causes the folds to flatten out and the entire vagina to become thinner and drier.
Number 8: The reduction of estrogen in the female body may result in women in the later stages of life experiencing discomfort during sex. Luckily, with a little bit of lube and patience, the side effects that low estrogen levels have on the vagina can be mitigated during sexual intercourse.
Number 7: Women lose collagen at a faster rate than men do. This can lead to more wrinkles in the skin. However, numerous studies have shown that even though men retain more collagen, they look older than women of the same age. This is likely because men tend not to take care of their skin and body as well as females do.
The other reason for this has to do with skin thickness.
Number 6: Women’s skin is thinner than men’s skin on average. This means that the female body shows fewer facial lines and aging spots. It also may account for why some women feel cooler than men do, even when the temperature around them is the same.
Are females actually more flexible than males? And if so, why?
Number 5: The female body contains more elastin than the male body.
Elastin is a protein that allows connective tissues to stretch. The fact that the female body contains more of this protein means they are indeed more flexible than men. On top of that, females tend to have a wider pelvis that gives them a more extensive range of motion.
What time of year do women crave sex more?
Number 4: Surprisingly, the answer to this question isn’t wintertime when it’s cold, and you’re stuck inside. Instead, investigations have found that women actually crave sex more during the summer. Researchers think the reason for this is because of the scents that are present during this time of year. As discussed earlier, females have a strong sense of smell and are able to recall scents better than men. It’s not exactly known which smells trigger the female sex drive, but whatever they are, they appear to be more plentiful in the summer. Another factor that might explain this phenomenon is that sunlight helps activate serotonin in the body, which is a key neurotransmitter that allows humans to experience pleasure. Therefore, if the summer sun causes the female body to want to be pleased, it might cause them to seek out one of the more gratifying experiences in life.
Number 3: Regardless of the time of year, women are better at identifying sexual intentions than men are. Both sexes tend to miss cues of sexually interested individuals from time to time, but women are much better at identifying the difference between a friendly interaction and one that has other connotations. This means that in the game of finding a mate, females will likely have much more success than males as they will miss fewer opportunities.
And if that last fact got your heart racing, that is nothing compared to our next insane fact about the female body.
Number 2: The female heart beats faster than a male heart. This is because the female heart tends to be smaller, even when compared to a similar body size. To make up for the smaller dimensions, female hearts beat more frequently to ensure enough blood is circulated around the body.
The average male heart beats around 70 to 72 beats per minute, while the female heart beats around 78 and 82 beats per minute.
Number 1: Females don’t need males or their sperm to reproduce anymore.
Using in vitro fertilization and other assistive pregnancy methods,two females can combine their genetic information and have a baby. However, two sperm will never be able to be combined to create a viable offspring since an egg is essential for an embryo to form. This means that females might not have any use for males in the future.
50 Insane Facts About The Female Body
