Are You A Tough Guy?

Why Tough May Not Be Good

We live in a culture that praises toughness, especially from men. We are taught from an early age not to complain or cry. Most of us learned to just suck it up when things got bad.

While that may work in books and movies where the heroes are fictional to begin with, in real life it doesn’t serve us well. Especially if it involves our health.

A recent Rutgers University study found that men are less likely than women to go to the doctor and when they go they minimize their symptoms.

Is this why statistics how that men die earlier than women?

Research Shows No Physiological Differences

That was the question that sparked the research according to Diana Sanchez, Diana Sanchez, associate professor of psychology in Rutgers’ School of Arts and Sciences. She noted that while men can expect to die five years earlier than women, the difference is not based on physiological differences.

Along with Mary Himmelstein, a doctoral student, the results of their work was published in Preventive Medicine and The Journal of Health Psychology. They report that men who held traditional beliefs about masculinity tended to be more likely to ignore medical problems and were less likely to be open with that doctor about their symptoms.

Ironically, the researchers found, men tended to be more honest about their medical symptoms when their doctors were women. It is speculated that this is the case because women generally did not place as high a value on bravery, toughness and self-reliance as men do.

What’s the point of bravery, toughness and self-reliance if it means your life is cut shorter because of them?

I, for one, am glad to see that our society is beginning to realize that these ‘values’ may not be so valuable after all.

To learn more about the study, click here.