Men are the weaker sex, whether I want to admit it or not

While I was sitting at home yesterday writing this column on Human Rights Day, I was feeling extremely sorry for myself. I was the proud recipient of some or other nasty flu virus brought home from school by little Egg. And, as always, I’m the lucky one to be infected.

Usually I try to act tough with cold and flu viruses. I probably love my wife as much as the next man. Men, being the more romantic gender, tend to name their wives after flowers: Rose or Lily or Daisy… I, too, call my wife a flower’s name: Snapdragon. With good reason.

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If I dare to show the slightest sign of fragility, I’ll hear about it. The lovely Snapdragon loves to refer to the notorious “men’s flu”. Yes, the old story of men sitting in a corner, sipping hot drinks and pity themselves while women soldier on when they get sick.

Of course there is a good reason why men act sicker than women when they contract a so-called minor disease – it is because they get considerably sicker. Recent research has shown that male and female immune cells don’t act the same to invading viruses.

Now, a study in mice suggests that the male gender really gets hit harder by certain illnesses. And the reasons are physiological, not psychological.

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In the study, male mice displayed more symptoms of illness than females when they were exposed to bacteria that cause an illness with symptoms similar to the flu. Males also had more fluctuations in body temperature, fever and signs of inflammation, and took longer to recover.

It’s not always the virus that makes us sick, it’s our immune response, and males have a heightened response that summons cells to the site of infection, which contributes to the overall feeling of sickness.

We’re the weaker sex, whether I want to admit it or not. Science tells us that men get sicker and there’s no sense in arguing about it. Not that I care to argue.

Next week, I’ll be my old happy-go-lucky self, while Snapdragon will still be… well… Snapdragon. Which is, of course, one of the biggest reasons I smile often. When I’m not sick, because, as science tells us, I get much sicker than any flu virus will ever make her.

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I am, after all, the more fragile little flower in our household.