Does man flu exist?

Do men exaggerate winter illness, as women suggest? Not if the latest science is to be believed

We’ve all heard the terrible slander, as we lift our pounding heads from the sick-bed pillow and strain to hear our better halves talking on the phone in the next room.

“He’s not really ill, he’s got man flu. He just fancies a lie in.”

And it’s not just wives and girlfriends. The idea of man flu has become pretty much accepted, and with it the implication that men are not just malingerers and skivers but also weak, and prone to taking to our beds with symptoms women would just live with.

Well here’s one in the eye for the sceptics. Apparently, there’s no such thing as man flu, and contrary to popular prejudice, men are actually less likely to admit they’re ill than women.

So here are the really infectious facts about man flu.

Man flu doesn’t exist

Women like to accuse men of exaggerating when we say we’re ill (“Flu my bum. You just don’t want to wash up.”), but the new research is firmly on our side.

The research, carried out by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, shows that women are 16% more likely to say they are ill than men.

In other words, men are more likely to get the sniffles and carry on regardless, without even considering it worthy of a mention. The idea that we sneeze and take immediately to our beds, stopping only to demand Lemsip, is blown right out of the water.

And this also brings up the possibility that men try to carry on as normal when they have a genuine winter illness, instead of taking things easy and recovering more quickly. Could it be that male stoicism creates a worse experience of flu by undermining our immune systems and making even minor ailments harder to shift?

Whether that’s true or not, lead researcher Dr Alma Adler is unequivocal. “We haven't found any evidence of 'man flu' yet,” she says.

Man flu does exist

But the latest study is not the last word on the notion of man flu. Last year researchers found that man flu could indeed be real, just not in the way everyone thought.

Most people think of man flu as men’s attempts to exaggerate symptoms to elicit sympathy and favours. But Australian researchers found that, in fact, men really do suffer more from minor winter ailments than women.

The researchers found that female volunteers had a “much stronger immune response” to rhinoviruses - the bugs that usually cause the common cold - than men.

Lead researcher Professor John Upham, of the University of Queensland, said: “It makes sense from a biological point of view because women are more likely to ensure the survival of the species.”

In other words, women are programmed to fight off winter bugs more easily than men. So men aren’t malingering at all. We really are suffering.

And that seems to be confirmed by an intriguing evolutionary theory from scientists at Cambridge University. They believe that men suffer more from illness because we have evolved to sacrifice a certain amount of immunity for staying power in the sack. That may sound crackers, but apparently the ability to perform in the bedroom (well, cave), even when poorly, was important to our early ancestors, and in fact more important than getting well again quickly.

Men are the weaker sex?

What these studies suggest is that men are the weaker sex, at least when it comes to the biological mechanisms needed for fighting off colds and flu. But before any female readers get too smug, the same isn’t true in other areas.

In fact, a new study by Leeds Metropolitan University found that men can tolerate more pain than women and are less likely to react to it. The pain in question was inflicted on volunteers by a jab to the hand with a blunt instrument, but it could also be true of sinus pain, headache and the other aches and pains that accompany winter bugs.

So when it comes to pain, many men appear to be more stoical and uncomplaining than many women, even when - as appears to be the case with colds and flu - they’re suffering more.

Men and women react differently

It certainly seems that men and women react differently to winter infections, in several ways.

Women may be more sensitive to colds and flu initially, as their immune systems work quickly to overcome the virus. On the other hand, men may struggle on in the early stages, trying to pretend that nothing is wrong. The upshot is that our naturally less efficient immune systems are further undermined, potentially delaying recovery and making symptoms more severe.

So is there such a thing as man flu? Almost certainly, but it has nothing to do with malingering men. These studies suggest that men are hit harder by winter bugs, even if we don’t always show it.

So with that settled, any women reading might want to stop making 'man flu' jibes and get the kettle on. It’s time for our Lemsip.