Yuck, you got sick. Your head feels like it’s been stuffed with cotton wool; you’re hit like a brick wall with fatigue.
But life is hectic, so you push through until the weekend when you can give yourself some serious R&R.
Fast forward four days. Your significant other is in bed, close to tears. He’s begging you to call work for him to tell them that he won’t make it in today. He just doesn’t think he can make it to the phone. He’s telling you all this in a husky whisper that’s normally reserved for death scenes in Hollywood movies.
Man flu season has arrived, and you’re about as sympathetic as Donald Trump is to the plight of ethnic minorities.
But according to a recent study, not only is the condition a real thing – it’s actually much worse for men than it is for women.
A team at John Hopkins University revealed that the sex hormone estrogen has antiviral effects against the influenza A virus (more commonly known as the flu).
The study looked at nasal cells (where the virus is commonly infected) of men and women and saw less replication – meaning less severe symptoms – in the women.
The lead study author (who surprisingly is not a male), Sabra Klein, concluded that man flu is not just an excuse for men to graze on the couch and ask for Kleenex and sustenance at regular intervals.
“We see clinical potential in the finding that therapeutic estrogens that are used for treating infertility and menopause may also protect against the flu,” Klein said.
So since men don’t have estrogen to shield them from the more aggressive symptoms, he’s only exaggerating a little bit when he says he’s on his death bed.
The idea to conduct the experiment came from previous evidence that estrogen has antiviral properties against HIV, Ebola and Hepatitis.
So while this still doesn’t mean that all men aren’t fakers, it might make us a little less stingy when they’re feeling under the weather.
“Man flu IS a real thing! Pleaaaase fetch me my cough drops… and a sandwich.”
We’re never going to hear the end of this, are we?
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