Does your guy suffer from the Man Flu?

You've probably seen the symptoms. They usually start getting bad right just before football season (or basketball season, or hockey season). They get so bad, sometimes, that the most a man can do is lie down on the couch, his head propped up on pillows, TV tuned to his favorite sport. It's called the Man Flu, and it's a debilitating disease that leaves guys unable to do much of anything-or so one out of five women in Britain believe.

And that's not all. According to a new survey (conveniently tied to the Matt Damon-Gwyneth Paltrow movie "Contagion"), some people also still believe that stress turns your hair gray and that hyperactivity is caused by eating too much sugar, among other things.

"Unbelievably, there are still a lot of misconceptions around how minor illnesses and conditions are caused or prevented," Mike Smith, who lead the study, said in a statement.

The most-popular medical myth is one that moms have told children for generations: that we lose most of our body heat through our uncovered heads. In reality, while the head may be more sensitive to temperature changes, kids have to cover up all over in order to stay warm-but out of the 2,000 adults who participated in the survey, one third still think that adding a hat is the only thing that will help. (Also? Viruses cause colds, not "catching a chill.")

"The Contagion study suggests that a large majority of the population are still under the illusion that they can, for example, get square eyes from watching too much television, or get better night vision from eating more carrots," Smith said.

"These are just not true, but do go to show that no matter how many millions are spent on health and education, some medical myths still prevail," he added.

Our favorite medical myth is the Man Flu, though. Twenty percent of respondents think that their husbands or boyfriends really are too sick to move from the couch, in spite of the pizza and beer they consume while feeling faint and the decidedly animated reactions they have to the game on TV. Thirty-eight percent of those surveyed said that men take longer to recover from illness than women (not true-it all depends on the severity of the sickness), and 50 percent said that guys tend to exaggerate their symptoms in order to get some sympathy.

Does your guy suffer from the Man Flu? What do you do about it?




Also on Shine:

• How to get your guy to notice you during football season
• 10 classic symptoms of a man cold
• When should I stick to my guns, and when should I let him win?
• 5 must-dos when you're sick
• Burlesque Beauty: 5 notice-me makeup tips