訪談錄 2011-02-09&02-11 其實男人比女人更脆弱

In this morning's Health Watch, the truth about man flu. Have you ever noticed that sometimes certain men have a tendency to, I don't wanna say why, but perhaps complain a little bit more at the first sight they have a sniff or even a slight headache, complain like at the end of the world. Well, a new study suggests man actually do get sick more often than women do. Dr. Jennifer Ash is here with the details. So with this actually giving a little fuel to the fire?

There are may in fact be evidence now scientifically that there is a real entity called the wimp factor, so they looked at the study in South Korea 1200 workers. Ask them about their level of stress, then went back 6 months later and ask them how many they had colds, in fact the people who had supported that they had the highest stress in their job, the men were 74% more likely to call in sick due to a cold over that time of period. They didn't have a lot of women in the study because in South Korea not as many women at work, but it does appear to support that there is a real entity called the wimp factor.

So this seems it tied a little bit more to the stress in your job which you know in the United States, as you mentioned, might come out a little bit differently because there are women who work outside the home. However, does that translate to a real medical evidence that there are something different in the immune system?

Well, in terms of physiology, there is no actual evidence to support a difference between men and women yet. But of course, possible theories include some hormone differences that may make men actually becomes a little sicker when they are exposed to cold virus. Remember in the past, heart disease was thought to be the same entity between men and women. We know now that's not true. (Right.) The women actually experience in slightly different manners. The cold virus may turn out to be the same thing. There might be differences between men and women.

So there is a chance that they experience differently, that they may feel sicker than women do. But on the flipside, women also aren't perhaps as ready to say I feel terrible because they don't feel that they can.

Exactly. Traditionally, women are the caregivers in the home at least. And a lot more women certainly in this country in the work force. They have to be more stoic . They can't get sick. You know, they just don't have that flexibility in their day-to-day life. Who will take care of the children if the mum gets sick? So potentially that has something to do with all that stuff.

And men are used to be taken care of. That's why sometimes, not all men, my husband, if you’re watching, I wanna throw him into the bus. But you know some men do sort of you know, act like big babies when they are sick.

Well, we could be accomplices in perpetrating this. You know men can complain more because they can complain more. And traditionally they are less likely to seek medical attention. They may not be accustomed to expressing their feelings. When they are happy or sad or feeling ill, so all these things can really stack the deck against them when they do get sick or you are gonna hear about it.

So really the bottom line takes away is we’re still stronger because we can handle it better right?

Oh, I think so.

Jen, thanks.

You bet.

Not that either one of us is biased.