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Experts who study humans who face stress (that would include everyone who breathes) have discovered something interesting: Men's and women's bodies respond differently to stressful life events.

Why is this important to know? Because understanding how you cope can improve what scientists call your resilience — your ability to rebound from a challenge or setback.

A number of studies have found that men display more evidence of the "fight or flight" response to stress. The theory is that as men evolved and faced physical challenges, their bodies adapted to overcome (fight) or escape (flight) the inevitable physical threats in their environment.

The fight or flight physical response helped your ancient ancestors survive a life-threatening attack from a possible predator situation. But that same heart-pumping, palm-sweating response is not so helpful for today's stressors that are mostly psychological — say, during a job interview, giving a speech or negotiating with a moody teen.

In fact, fight or flight can put a real damper on your life and mood. Scientists have found that when faced with stressful tasks, the sections of the male brain associated with vigilance and negative emotions fire up, suppressing activity in the brain associated with positive emotion and pleasure.