As last week was men’s health awareness week, here at The Stress Management Society, we wanted to delve deeper into the topic. Males have a tendency to naturally shy away from discussing their health or health related topics. As long as, their role in society is able to be fulfilled, they consider themselves ‘healthy’.
However, the top 5 threats to male health are;
Cardiovascular disease- Worldwide, this is the leading cause of death for males. Estimated that roughly 30% of overall deaths are due to this, it is thought; eating healthily whilst ensuring you exercise regularly along with drinking less alcohol and quitting smoking shall decrease your chances. Managing stress also helps to prevent this. 50% of men who pass away due to this, experience a lack of symptoms. Being aware of the most common symptoms, such as; chest pain, shortness of breath and lastly, pain, numbness, weakness or coldness in your legs or arms if the blood vessels in those parts of your body are narrowed, can help greatly.
Lung cancer- it has been proven that 80% of deaths caused by lung cancer have a high correlation with smoking, or being exposed to second hand smoke.
Prostate cancer- recent research has unraveled a potential link between prostate cancer and obesity, along with it has become evident that a high calcium diet is linked to an increased risk of developing prostate cancer. Finally, exercise is also supposedly likely to reduce risk.
Depression/ suicide – 4/5 suicides are men! See last year’s blog post for more information.
Smoking and Mental Health – A link has become apparent between smoking and mental health conditions. 19% of men smoke and over 1/3 of mental health sufferers smoke. Smoking cigarettes has continuously been used as a type of self-medication and coping mechanism for stress. As discussed before, 10% of men are severely or extremely stressed and 11% of men strongly agree that they constantly feel stressed or under pressure. If you have started to smoke more regularly and feel as though you rely on cigarettes to get you through the day, this is most likely due to an increase in your stress levels. Although you may feel as though smoking eases the stress, making you feel relaxed for 5 minutes, you shouldn’t rely on them to help as the escape is temporary. It has been proven that smoking actually increases both anxiety and tension. It has been concluded that the majority of people start to smoke before noticing the signs of depression. There is also an increased risk of depression when smoking Tobacco. “Smoking rates among adults with depression are twice as high as among adults without depression” If you are able to, tackle your mental health problems via support etc., you are more likely to be able to quit smoking.
Diabetes – 90% of diabetes sufferers have type 2 diabetes. Remain a healthy weight to decrease chances.
Here are a few tips that indicate general health problems:
If your resting heart beat is not around 70 beats per minute.
Your finger nails can act as a warning, white spots or ripples could be a reflection of diabetes. Whereas, yellow nails can indicate respiratory disease. Seek a doctor’s advice if either of these relate to you.
Dark urine could mean you are dehydrated, so try to increase your water intake. Click here for tips to stay hydrated.
Dry chapped lips can also be a sign of dehydration.
A healthy male is thought to be able to; run a mile in 15 minutes and do 20 press-ups.
Seep deprivation can lead to many health issues, men on average should get around 7-8 hours of sleep a night.
Going grey before 40? If this isn’t a common trait that runs through your family, this could be a sign of a medical condition
Don’t forget to regularly visit your GP for check ups, even if you feel well!
Click here to discover more health and wellbeing tips. You can also follow The Stress Management Society on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
