Men’s Health Week

Men’s Health Week has just come and gone. I know it’s confusing given we already have prostate week, erectile dysfunction week, testicular cancer week, male menopause week, testosterone week and many others. What bits could be left to cover?

Looking at the statistics of GP attendances in the UK for last year and also at the top 10 causes of death that’s easy to answer: men actually taking any notice of their general health whatsoever would be a good start. Can I just point out here that grunting away on a pec dec at it’s heaviest setting once a week and occasionally slapping on some high-tech-packaged moisturiser doesn’t count as health care. It’s vanitiy.

It may well help us to find a mate which could in time allow us to pass on our genes, arguably our primary role in life, but it’s not ging to do much to make us healthy. Men are notoriously bad at going to their GPs when they are ill, and alarmingly good at ignoring problems. In fact research shows that women are 100% more likely than men to seek preventative health care. It’s a male pride thing you see, a machismo deeply ingrained by evolution. Illness is weakness, and it would never do to admit to being weak.

It’s also to do with background access to healthcare in general. Women realise from a young age that it’s ok to talk about their bodies; their periods start and they talk about that. Then come family planning issues, with an ensuing visit to the GP’s in many cases, then babies, smear tests, mammograms, more babies and finally menopause and HRT. She is often at the GP or having some sort of medical consultation.

For man it’s a different story with most presenting to their GP’s for the first time when they hit 50 because the prostate is starting to play up. And having to talk to another bloke about his undercarriage is a mortifying new experience for which life so far has left him totally unprepared. It’s unfortunate for men that so often the bits that seem to go wrong first are the really embarrassing ones: testicles and lumps thereon, prostates with their sexual and urinary sequelae, erection probs, man boobs. Our smugness at not having to go through the hell of ‘women’s problems’ is now making us look foolish as we now die at higher rates than women from the top 10 causes of death.

We also die six years earlier than women on average. In the current economic climate men are experiencing high levels of stress, longer working hours and for many a less secure home life. This will inevitably lead to increased anxiety, depression, hypertension and heart disease. They are all treatable, as are many cases of male cancers, but only if we catch them early enough. To do that men need to start taking an interest in their long-term health, recognise and respond to health warnings and seek help when they need it.

They need to get more in touch with their feminine side when it comes to their health and take as much pride in going for a check up at their GP’s as they do in their grooming and appearance.