Have you ever wondered why, when your hubby gets a cold, he usually needs to take sick leave, but if the same thing happens to you, you can still find it in you to go to work? According to research published in the journal Bio Essays, women can beat nasty infections and recover from sicknesses faster than men can, thanks to their extra female X chromosome (males only have one) and their estrogen levels.

The researchers looked at a string of studies that proved just how strong women are when it comes to fighting diseases. In a study conducted by Queen Mary, University of London, for example, it was determined that that, while women get more colds yearly because they are exposed to children more often, they can still function properly; men, on the other hand, catch colds less often, but feel the burn more strongly.

Other studies examined also showed these interesting findings: Men are more likely to catch a cold after getting stressed at work. They are also less likely to survive a serious infection after surgery; a third of men survive, compared to three-quarters of women.

"There is a compelling body of work to show hormones, including testosterone and [estrogens], have an impact on the way the immune system function, too," Sabra Klein, assistant professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, is quoted as saying. "Many of our immune cells have receptors for hormones such as [estrogens], meaning that [estrogens] can regulate the functioning of these cells to alter how they respond to microbes or allergens."

These findings were further fortified in a study by Dr. Ramona Scotland of the University of London and her team. They looked at male and female rats' lungs and guts and discovered that females had twice the amount of white blood cells. Their immune cells also battled bacteria better. "They seemed to invoke a mild response, meaning the females didn’t feel very ill and carried on as normal, whereas the males were slow to recover and seemed to suffer more."

On the downside, though, women's strong immune systems also cause them to be more prone to getting auto-immune conditions, in which their bodies attack their own cells. Examples of these are lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.

Want to read more articles about women's health? Try these:

• New Study: Female Smokers More Likely to Hit Menopause Early
• Health News: An absence of lumps doesn't always mean you don't have breast cancer
• New Study: Hormonal Contraceptives Double Women's Risk of Getting HIV

(Screencap from The Big Bang Theory courtesy of CBS)