Women Need Sugar; Men Need Sex

He's stressed; he reaches for you. You're stressed; you reach for the chocolate bar on your nightstand. Why do women tend to soothe stress with food, while men seek release with sex? The answer may lie within a a tiny portion of the brain called the hypothalamus, says neuropsychiatrist Mona Lisa Schulz, M.D., Ph.D.

The hypothalamus is a part of the limbic system, a group of brain structures that govern food, fighting, fear -  and sex. In most women, the part of the hypothalamus that rules sexual desire is extremely close to the part that controls feeding, says Dr. Schulz In most men's brains, these two portions of the hypothalamus are farther apart.

That does not mean that some women don't get lusty when they are under stress or that anxious men don't turn to jelly doughnuts. We all have unique ways of soothing ourselves, says Dr. Schulz. " But there's no question that more women than men eat under stress, and there are neuroanatomical differences in how men and women are programmed for sex - at least, in the hypothalamus.