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Time to get out those boxing gloves… who says women are bigger hypochodriacs but that the “man flu” really does exist? A Cambridge University study has indicated that men might be less capable of fighting disease than women.
With men having long been accused of turning a cold into a bed-worthy illness, the research provides evolutionary support for the existence of the infamous ‘man-flu’. The study states that the male immune system is weaker than that of the female.
Because of this, not only do they have an increased risk of becoming ill, they are also more likely to suffer symptoms for longer.
The research, led by Dr Oliver Restif, involved applying a mathematical model to the typical factors that characterise each gender. From this, Restif and his team deduced that the male immune system was weaker than the female’s due to man’s natural inclination for risk taking.
This would have left him more vulnerable to disease. Furthermore, According to Restif, males are more likely to be reproductively competitive than females. “If you are devoting a lot of resources to producing proteins and cells in the immune system, you may be limiting your resources for reproduction”, explained Restif.
Thus, men are more likely to compromise the development of their immune system in order to reproduce.
Although previous scientific studies had indicated that men were more susceptible to certain diseases, and more likely to suffer from prolonged symptoms, this is the first time an evolutionary theory has been produced in order to explain the difference between men and women’s immunity.
From his research, Restif thinks it may be necessary to develop specific vaccination schemes for each gender. “If you could indentify the differences you may want to treat men and women differently”, he added.
However, although the study provides some evidence to justify what women had previously thought to be men’s perpetual whining, the research is not as of yet conclusive.
Despite the acknowledgement by scientists that there is a difference in the strength of the genders’ defence mechanisms, the reason for this difference could lie elsewhere.
Kevin Malloy, for example, argues that the cause could lie in the fact that women are simply more able to handle pain. “It could be that women just have a higher pain threshold, possibly linked to pregnancy and the menstrual cycle”. Other scientific studies have shown that the female hormone Oestrogen helps to fight off disease.
Source: Cambridge University
