Johannesburg - South African men, you have been vindicated.
They called you “babies” and “whiners” – but they were wrong. Results from a tweet-a-thon staged by colds and flu medicine provider Pharma Dynamics show that “man flu” is alive and unwell among the country’s men.
More than 72 percent of the 600 people who participated in the tweet-a-thon held at the start of flu season confirmed that there is truth to the condition.
The Urban Dictionary describes man flu as: “The condition shared by all males wherein a common illness (usually a mild cold) is presented by the patient as life-threatening… when the patient is your boyfriend, he will exhibit the standard symptoms (such as an overwhelming desire for compassion) while simultaneously rejecting any and all efforts you make to placate him.”
However, according to Mariska Fouche, spokesperson for Pharma Dynamics, there is method in the madness.
“When you have flu, your temperature rises to fight off the bugs. The difference, however, between men and women is the region of the brain which controls temperature. The area is the same size in childhood, but when boys hit puberty, testosterone starts to act on the area known as the preoptic nucleus, making it larger.
“As a result, men could experience general cold and flu symptoms more intensely than women because they have more temperature receptors in that area of the brain,” she explained.
The tweet-a-thon also revealed tried and tested flu-busting remedies ranging from old wives’ tales of chopping up an onion and placing it next to you in bed to “absorb flu germs”, to taking a hot toddy, along with a mustard bath with feet covered in a menthol rub.
Watching movies was also tweeted as a way to help ease flu symptoms with the top five flu-movies including the 1990 romantic comedy Pretty Woman and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
But Fouche advised that movies be restricted to the light and comical.
“Relaxation and rest are important with the flu and movies do no harm, but keep the movies you watch upbeat. After all, laughter is the best medicine,” she quipped. - The Star