Man flu: an enigma wrapped in a damp towel | Stuart Jeffries

I'm not sure that research focusing on the preoptic nucleus will settle things – it's really a matter for the psychology of illnessIt's a truth universally acknowledged that men are pathetic. Around this time of year, the man in your life will get the merest sniffle and retire to bed until the middle of next month. He'll take all the toilet rolls, the box set of Game of Thrones and a punchably pitiful look that says, like some Vietnam vet, "You weren't there, man. You wouldn't understand." He'll also take his mobile phone, for reasons that will become clear in a moment.Meanwhile, you will continue heroically multitasking even though you've got the norovirus and a twisted ankle. You'll trudge through snowdrifts on the school run with kid-sick down your work clothes. You'll then limp home (you've twisted your ankle getting off the bus, remember?) to make ice muffins for the PTA bake sale, before rushing off to chair the board meeting of a Very Important Company. Halfway through you'll get a text: "Urgent! My pillow needs plumping." And you'll immediately dash home to plump his ickle pillow, make him more Lemsip and put in disc two on the DVD player.Wouldn't it be wonderful if there were some justification for this all-too-common scenario? Wouldn't it be great if there was evidence that man flu was an actual thing rather than a fiction born of hypochondria, slackerdom and sexist exploitation?Fortunately, there is. Step forward neuroscientist Dr Amanda Ellison of Durham Univers...
Source: Guardian Unlimited Science - Category: Science Authors: Tags: Comment Infectious diseases Health guardian.co.uk Medical research Microbiology Society Flu Gender Science Comment is free Source Type: news