The truth about ‘man flu’... it’s WOMEN who suffer the most

SCIENTISTS have proved what most women suspected all along – men make too much fuss when they’re feeling full of flu.

They studied flu-like symptoms in more than 100 men and women and found barely any differences when it came to runny noses, headaches, chills or sleep loss.

But researchers concluded that men’s flu symptoms were milder on average – not more severe – than women’s.

The findings undermine previous studies that suggest men really do suffer more from colds and flu, generally feeling more unwell and having higher temperatures and death rates than women. But the latest investigation, by researchers at the Medical University of Innsbruck in Austria, led to a conclusion that the term ‘man flu’ should be dropped immediately.

The scientists, whose study was published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, said they discovered that women did tend to recover more quickly, however. They said this may be due to female sex hormones such as oestrogen which can fire up the immune system to attack invading viruses.

They noted that they had actually expected to discover that the flu was more severe in men.