Men Feel Worse Then Women When They Are Sick
Women have been complaining about how soft and wimpy men get when they are sick for ages.
Now it turns out that there is a good reason why men turn into little crying babies when they are sick compared to their female counterparts.
According to Dr. Amanda Ellison, 38, a neurologist at Durham University, men actually do feel worse than women when they are sick. Ellison believes the difference lies in the part of the brain called the hypothalamus. At birth, the hypothalamus of a male is identical to that of a female.
However, during puberty when males’ testosterone starts to make its way to that specific area in the brain, it causes it to grow much faster than in their female counterparts.
Ellison notes that, “When you have a cold one of the things that happens is you get an increase in temperature to fight off the bugs. The bugs can’t survive at higher temperatures. When your immune system is under attack the pre-optic nucleus increases temperature to kill off the bugs.
But men have more temperature receptors because that area of the brain is bigger in men than women.” Adding, “So men run a higher temperature and feel rougher – and if they complain they feel rough then maybe they’re right.”
Paul Hudson | Elite.
