The Washington Post reports that
"Scientists are gaining new insights into the role of temperament in making some people vulnerable to physical disease through studies exploring how stress influences the immune system, weakening disease-fighting cells and creating fertile environments for pathogens." Shy men are at a disadvantage compared to outgoing men, and people with emotional disorders (depression, for example) are less able to fight off disease. This doesn’t seem shocking to me; modern science is proving what my grandmother knew, and we call it progress.
My own 88 year old grandmother has maintained the health of someone 30 years younger by not taking anyone’s nonsense and by being the toughest "broad" I know! She didn’t have time to waste on depression - there were mouths to feed, not a therapeutic culture to indulge in or time for separate vacations from her husband and children.
Good for her, Tony. Let’s learn from our grandmothers more and ignore the modern, post-modern (whatever they call it) therapy culture. It’s pathetic and depressing and causes physical illness. This reminds me of a Churchill story. A socialist MP was pontificating about how the unterbau controls everything when Churchill noticed an elderly MP straining to listen to the socialist with his ear trumpet. "Who is that fool who is denying his natural advantages?" he asked. Merry Christmas to you and yours.