Men and women experience pain relief differently, and a new study may shed light on why women are more prone to chronic pain and less responsive to opioid treatments. A recent study from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, investigating meditation as a treatment for chronic lower back pain, has revealed that men and women use different biological mechanisms for pain relief. Men primarily rely on the release of endogenous opioids, the body’s natural painkillers, whereas women depend on alternative, non-opioid pathways to manage pain.