Stoic Redheads ("redheads can withstand up to 25% more pain than their blond and brunet peers do")

The New York Times Magazine ^ | 12/11/05 | Amy Sullivan

[paulat]

Stoic Redheads

By AMY SULLIVAN Published: December 11, 2005

Redheads have long been portrayed in literature and art as strong-willed and fiery. Now there may be a scientific explanation for these traits. The key, according to researchers at McGill University in Montreal, is a gene that is linked both to red hair coloring and to higher levels of pain tolerance. It has been known since the mid-1990's that mutations of the MC1R gene are responsible for hair color - and fair skin and freckles - in about 70 percent of redheads. But when Jeffrey S. Mogil and his colleagues at McGill set out to find a genetic link to pain inhibition, MC1R wasn't at the top of their list of targets. "We normally only get excited about genes in the brain when it comes to pain," he says. "This is in the skin." There was, however, a little-noticed paper that said MC1R was in fact expressed in the brain. It was enough of a clue to go on.

So, earlier this year, Mogil ran some mice through a battery of pain tests, using mice with the red-hair gene as his test group. (A collaborator in the Netherlands ran the same study with humans, giving them electrical shocks to the leg.) When animals and humans experience pain, their brains release natural opiates similar to morphine. In most cases, however, the MC1R gene produces a protein that interferes with the efficacy of those substances as well as of artificial painkillers. What Mogil found is that the variant of MC1R that causes red hair also appears to allow these opiates to work unimpeded. As a result, redheads can withstand up to 25 percent more pain than their blond and brunet peers do before saying "stop."

[ValerieUSA]

I hate pain .. but I did give birth to four big (redheaded) sons without pain meds, so I guess I can survive it.

[paulat]

I'll say again...I think this study is backwards.

[MarkL]

Gingers!!!!!

Mark

[mikegi]

Bwa=hahahah. My wife is a redhead, and the woman can take pain. She had a spinal tap once with absolutely no numbing. Ugh!

I don't know about spinal taps but if it's anything like an epidural, I don't know how she could handle it. My wife had an epi before her c-section and it really bugged me. I'm not the squeamish type, either. It just seemed cruel. My back hurts just thinking about it.

[BnBlFlag]

A red headed kid kicked my ass all the way home from school even though he had a big time nose bleed and a busted lip. Last time I ever jumped on a red head.

[LS]

Mike, the two aren't comparable at all. An epidural uses a very thin needle to deliver an anesthetic, which begins to numb as it goes in. A spinal tap uses a larger needle into the spinal column and the doc has to withdraw a full syringe of spinal fluid. It was unbelievable. The doc even said, "We could give you some darvon and a skin-deep anesthetic, but it won't make much difference." So she went ahead without any.

[pissant]

Apparently make good subbies.

[Beagle8U]

Anyone that follows boxing knows that very few with red hair will ever approach championship status because they cut and bleed to easily.

They may have a high tolerance to pain, and good boxing skills, but it don't do them much good if the fights get stopped because of cuts.

[coop71]

I read the same thing. And forget it at the dentist. I've just learned to deal with the pain. I've been asked if I've taken my natural childbirth childbirth classes yet (our baby is due in March) and I tell everyone I'm not even going to pretend to go through the motions of attempting a drug-free birth. No way! I wish I could start the epidural now. {joking}

[mikegi]

Mike, the two aren't comparable at all. An epidural uses a very thin needle to deliver an anesthetic, which begins to numb as it goes in. A spinal tap uses a larger needle into the spinal column and the doc has to withdraw a full syringe of spinal fluid. It was unbelievable. The doc even said, "We could give you some darvon and a skin-deep anesthetic, but it won't make much difference." So she went ahead without any.

Ugh, I'd have to be removed from the room for that. Even the piece-o'-cake epidural was enough to trigger the "someone is hurting my wife" part of my brain. Like I said, I've seen my wife through several more painful procedures but the spine stuff just gets to me.

[LS]

I have to admit, I knelt down by the bed, held her hand, and looked into her eyes, but I couldn't watch that needle. Odd how women seem able to bear more pain in "normal" circumstances (childbirth, etc.) and men are such babies, yet men in wartime somehow manage to suck it up. One of those "mysteries" that Paul talked about in the Bible.

[Vision]

I don't date women based on how much pain they can take. It's usually on how much pleasure they give...call me crazy

[mikegi]

Odd how women seem able to bear more pain in "normal" circumstances (childbirth, etc.) and men are such babies, yet men in wartime somehow manage to suck it up.

I've never been in a war so I don't know what goes on in the mind of soldiers but, for me, the thing that usually gets me through painful physical events is anger. I get p*ssed off and the idea of beating the crap out of my tormenter pulls me through. You can't do this in a medical setting! I think women are more capable of taking physical pain without responding.

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[jla]

There is no evidence that red hair was introduced to to Scotland and Ireland by the Vikings.

The evidence is irrefutable, (they certainly didn't acquire the red hair from the Spanish).
Why do you suppose so many place-names in Scotland and Ireland are of Scandinavian origin? Of course many have since angelicized the names, such as Dingieshowe, Birsa, Dublin and Wexford.

[Bohemund]

There is no evidence that red hair was introduced to to Scotland and Ireland by the Vikings.

The evidence is irrefutable, (they certainly didn't acquire the red hair from the Spanish). Why do you suppose so many place-names in Scotland and Ireland are of Scandinavian origin? Of course many have since angelicized the names, such as Dingieshowe, Birsa, Dublin and Wexford.

It is well known that the Vikings raided Ireland and established settlements. What is not established is that the red hair came from the Vikings. If you have links to studies saying otherwise, please post them.

[Kimberly GG]

As a redhead here, no study needed. ;)

[jla]

I'm not a geneticist but am capable of simple elimination.
Since you're so sure it wasn't northern Europeans who are responsible then who is?

[Bohemund]

I'm not a geneticist but am capable of simple elimination. Since you're so sure it wasn't northern Europeans who are responsible then who is?

Why are you so sure that it was introduced into the native Irish population by interlopers, rather than arising locally? The simplest explanations are usually correct.

[tiki]

Clairol?