CHICAGO — Are "man colds" a real thing?
As temperatures drop, bringing in cold and flu season, people all over the city will be getting sick. Whether men and women react differently to the symptoms is up for debate.
"I did an informal poll around the office and every female staff person I asked had the same answer: 'Oh, yeah. My husband is a baby when he’s sick,'" said Kathryn Tibbits, director of clinical services/family nurse practitioner for Saint Xavier University’s Health Center.
Justin Breen laments the curse of the 'Man Cold.'
But is there any science behind a so-called "man cold?"
Probably not, according to University of Illinois at Chicago family medicine physician Dr. Samuel Grief.
"Man colds are no worse or no better to have than woman colds," Grief said, citing a study from the U.S. Library of Medicine.
But, Grief said, the study also indicates that men "do complain more about illness as a general rule, but seek medical care less often, likely due to social norms and expectations as well as the simplest of reasons: pride."
Grief also noted, that in an Applied Health study, men and women experience illness differently due to varying estrogen and testosterone levels. Estrogen has been shown to induce an increased risk for auto-immune conditions like multiple sclerosis and Lupus, while excess testosterone can lead to overproduction of a steroid hormone called cortisol. Too much cortisol will weaken the immune system, Grief said.
"So while we cannot say that men are more susceptible to colds and viruses, or that they tend to suffer more severe cases, as a result of hormones, it is certainly not surprising to notice different trends when comparing men and women’s experience of common sicknesses," Grief said.
Nadia Qureshi, an infectious diseases doctor at Loyola University Medical Center, said there's no medical reason for a man cold. But, she said with a laugh, "we all know that some women will do chores when they're sick, but a man will not be able to keep up."
She said one possibility that makes sense for women to deal with colds is that some have gone through pregnancy and birth.
"When a woman goes through pregnancy, that in itself is so undertaking, and they have to deal with the physical requirements and emotional ups and downs, and still continue to live," Qureshi said. "A male has not gone through that experience."
Tibbits said she's never noticed men or women who are sick acting differently at the university's health center. But, Tibbits said, she's heard many women say: "I don't have time to be sick right now."
"They’re thinking about all of their obligations, including work and family, and they literally just push the illness aside," she said. "I don’t know that they’re suffering any less, but they have to get up and do what needs to get done.”
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
