Man Flu

[lisanmaria4eva]

does man flu exsist ? i heard on the radio yesterday that when men get flu
it takes them ages to get rid of it and they feel like they are dying lol .
apparently when women get the flu they cope better with it than men , with women the estrogen helps fight the immune system quicker then testosterone in men what are your thoughts on this subject love to hear.
maria

[yero69]

Oh well we men can be precious sometimes.:biggrin:

[Genersis]

Thats a common joke used to show how men overreact and complain when they are sick:tongue: . I find it really funny, and mostly true. Men do seem to complain a lot more when sick.:biggrin:
I admit i get sick a lot, so i don't complain, but boy do i want too. I WANT EVERYONE ELSE TO SUFFER WITH ME, otherwise its not fair, is it?

[marshlander]

I thought "man-flu" was a woman's way of describing a man with a cold. Most men I know just get on with it, or if feeling really unwell, just retreat to the cave until able to get back to normal and usually trying to go back to work too soon. It strikes me as being another of those demeaning generalisations that we're all so good at.

[Genersis]

I always thorght of it as a joke that has developed due to that whole "Man VS Woman" thing. You know, like how men talk about the "how do i look" or the similer "does this dress make me look fat/make my butt look big" conundrum.:biggrin:
I never veiwed it as demeaning before , I guess it could be veiwed like that.mile:

[fredv3b]

Man-flu is a real and life threatening disease.

[Gawain88]

I am a long-time sufferer of man flu- I've lost many friends to this terrible disease

[KMG]

Actually, lisanmaria4eva is right. A new study from McGill University "finds that the female sex hormone estrogen appears to give women's immune systems extra ammunition in the battle against infection.

Estrogen seems to counter an enzyme called Caspase-12, which blocks the inflammatory process, the study found. Inflammation is usually the body's first line of defence against harmful invaders, such as bacteria and viruses."

According to the study, "women may have evolved a more robust immune system because of their key role in producing and nurturing young."

You can find the whole article here: CTV.ca | Women's immune systems have advantage over men's

[yar]

" Man flu is a pejorative term that refers to the idea that when many men have a cold, they exaggerate and claim they have the flu — the implication being that women do not do so.[/url]
A web-based survey[2] of readers of Nuts magazine in late 2006 stirred interest in this notion, which was criticized as unscientific and unreliable. It has been suggested that such exaggeration is possibly just as prevalent in women.[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_flu#cite_note-4] "

that is quoting Wikipedia