Women experience more pain in the presence of their partners during childbirth

January 23, 2015  22:40

Now a lot of men want to be present at the birth of their children. A new research, however, says it can do more harm than good for the mother. The authors (King’s College London) of the study, published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience pricked the fingers of 39 women with a special laser and asked to describe their feelings of pain during childbirth. Specialists discovered that women had lower pain tolerance if their partners were present, particularly for the women who avoided closeness in their relationships.

According to Dr. Katerina Fotopoulou, senior author of the study, people, avoiding closeness, may observe this as an obstacle to cope with threats by their own and with a preferred method. During childbirth, this may increase a woman's feeling of pain.

After women had received a moderately painful laser pulse on their fingers scientists also asked them to rate the intensity of the pain. During that time they measured women's brain activity. Women, who avoided being close with their partners were more likely to show higher pain feelings and also more brain activity when they experienced the prick.

Interestingly, another recent research has shown that a mother would prefer her partner to be present.

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