Good health is not gender specific. Men and women who exercise, eat well, keep their weight in check, get regular blood pressure and cholesterol screenings and generally engage in preventive health are proven to live healthier lives. So why are men not as healthy as women?
Part of the answer lies in health habits. Men are half as likely as women to see a provider over a two-year period and more than three times as likely to go more than five years without a visit. Even more surprising, twice as many men never, ever meet with a health care provider.
This type of poor health hygiene has real consequences. Men more frequently fall victim to eight of the top ten causes of death in the U.S., and they are 1.5 times more likely to die from heart disease, cancer and respiratory diseases. As a result, women today are outliving men by five years, which is perhaps the most telling symptom of a health gender gap in need of serious CPR.
June is a month to celebrate men. It’s also National Men’s Health Month - the perfect excuse to give men a health care tune-up. Here’s a look at where to start.
1. Take good health to heart. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men (and women). More than one in three adult men suffer from heart disease, yet nearly half have no idea they are at risk. Moreover, half of all heart disease deaths could be avoided by managing things like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, smoking, diet and exercise. Men over 55 with at least two major risk factors are six times as likely to die from heart disease as those with one or no risk factors. A visit to a nurse practitioner can help get these symptoms in check before it’s too late.
2. Focus on cancer prevention first. Every year, more than 300,000 men in the United States die from cancer. The most common types for men are skin, prostate, lung and colorectal cancer. Here’s what men need to know:
· Don’t smoke. More men die from lung cancer than any other form of cancer, and cigarette smoking is most often the cause.
· Wear sunscreen. Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the U.S., and men are more likely than anyone to get it, largely because less than 15 percent of men use sunscreen.
· Schedule a colonoscopy. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the U.S., but rates are dropping as a result of regular screening and early detection. Start tracking this at age 50, earlier if you have a family history.
· Get your prostate checked. One in seven men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. Again, early detection is the key. Today more than 2.9 million men are living with prostate cancer thanks to early intervention.
3. Embrace health over treatment. Good health is as much about monitoring acute problems as it is modeling health-conscious behaviors over the course of a lifetime. Men who get more sleep, exercise and practice good nutrition fare better in overall health; men who fall short in these areas struggle with things like high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity – the same symptoms that lead to other major health problems. Men should shoot for at least seven hours of shut-eye, 30 minutes of moderate activity most days and eat their way to better health with appropriate amounts of lean meats, fruits and vegetables.
4. Take risks sparingly. Men are more prone to motor vehicle deaths, more likely to use illicit drugs, and they are more likely to die of a drug overdose than a car accident. Men also account for 92 percent of all workplace deaths, despite making up only 55 percent of the workforce. Unintentional injury is a unique subset of men’s health and a subject that warrants a discussion with a provider, especially if there is concern about the ability to control avoidable risks.
5. Even Superman has check-ups. Men are 24 percent less likely to visit their provider this year, and 22 percent more likely to skip their cholesterol test. When the stakes are even higher, they are nearly 30 percent more likely to be hospitalized for congestive heart failure, 32 percent more likely to be hospitalized for long-term complications to diabetes, and 24 percent more likely to be hospitalized for pneumonia that could have been prevented by an immunization. The point here is that some of the barriers to men’s health boil down to perception, and the healthiest men are the ones who believe strength and masculinity are reasons to seek good preventive health care, rather than to avoid it.
More than 80 percent of men remember the make and model of their first car, but barely half remember their last checkup—and this needs to change. Men have higher rates of obesity, cardiovascular problems and difficulty managing drug and alcohol abuse, yet less than two-thirds talk to their provider about diet and exercise, and only one-third have had recent conversations about smoking and drug or alcohol use. It’s time we all work together to rebrand men’s health to encourage wider acceptance of preventive care every day of the year. June is the perfect time to start.