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Conclusion – Time to Change for Your Better Health

Irish men can be complex and full of contradictions regarding their health. The facts speak for themselves: Irish men die, on average, at least five years younger then Irish women, often from medical conditions and complications that are preventable. At the moment there is an explosion of diabetes and obesity-related conditions, with complications of heart disease and stroke just around the corner. Irish men have high rates of bowel and prostate cancer, while stress-related illnesses are on the increase.

In the same breath, we know that Irish men are less likely to access healthcare than women. They will often stick their heads in the sand or kid themselves that they are too busy. In my opinion, most Irish men do care about their health, but at times there seems to be an ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ mentality. This is the wrong attitude. It is a dangerous assumption to make about your health. Many important health conditions, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and even diabetes, can remain silent with no symptoms for many years. So you may have health problems for a long time and still feel perfectly well. This is an important point because prevention and early detection are better than cure. If these conditions are detected at an early stage they can be treated and difficult long-term complications can be prevented. We can kid ourselves into thinking that because we feel fine our health must also be fine.

While feeling well is a great place to be at and a good start to better health, it should compliment rather then replace the need for a sensible approach to your long-term health plan. To a large extent your future health is in your own hands. Develop good health habits now and they can gift you a lifetime of better health in return. These habits include a healthy diet, focusing on positive healthy food choices: plenty of wholegrains, pulses, fruits, vegetables and oily fish. Keep an eye on your weight and especially your waist (belly fat). Get plenty of exercise. If you smoke cigarettes, stop. Break bad habits. Have a healthy respect for alcohol; while it can be a good servant it is a very bad master. Mind your mental health and watch your stress levels. Don’t let what’s important to you, including family, friends, hobbies and health, be squeezed too much. Educate and inform yourself about important men’s health issues. Have the courage to take control of your own health. Be confident enough to go to the doctor when you feel ill or are concerned about some health issue. Think of your body as being like your car; it too needs its regular NCT.

Prevention Is Better than Cure

You get your car serviced every 20,000 miles, indeed older cars now have to be NCT-tested to ensure their road worthiness. Yet we often fail to apply these minimal basic standards of car welfare to our own bodies and health.

As a family doctor with an interest in men’s health I feel that a regular maintenance check or wellness check for men would be a valuable part of every man’s health programme. We know that for many reasons men are often ‘too busy’ to go to the doctor and when they do it is often only after being prodded into action by their partner. So a proper preventative wellness check allows the opportunity and, more importantly, the time to look at the following:

As a general rule of thumb I recommend a good check-up for men at the following intervals:

Blood tests that may be carried out at these examinations include the following:

Useful Vaccinations for Men to Consider

How To Get the Best from Your Doctor

The following tips may help you get the best from your doctor:

Why Some Men Do Not Follow Health Advice

Do you know the biggest reason as to why prescribed medication does not work? It is simply because people don't take the medication, or at least don’t take enough of it for long enough to produce the desired effect. This is a massive challenge for doctors, patients, healthcare and society in general. There is no doubt that many of us do not like taking pills or medication, particularly if we do not feel sick. I mean, how many of us have been prescribed a week’s course of an antibiotic for a sore throat and finished the course? I know many men, doctors included, might take them until they feel better and then stop the rest of the course. While this may not have many adverse consequences for your throat, apart from increasing the risk of drug resistance to antibiotics, the story can be different when you are looking at the management of many chronic conditions, including high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol. With these conditions, taking medication daily is often essential to maintain wellness and to prevent complications such as heart attack and stroke, which remain among the biggest killers of Irish men.

How Common Is Non-Compliance?

Research has shown that only one in every three men will comply and take a course of medication to a degree sufficient enough to affect outcome. These men, in general, have a better understanding of their medical condition, as well as a better understanding of the need to take medication. Naturally they tend to have better outcomes. About one in three men tend to comply partly with the prescribed medication, in that they may take it for a few months or a year on and off, but not sufficiently frequently enough to prevent complications arising from their condition, and about one in every three men do not comply at all. This lack of compliance does not just apply to prescribed medication; it holds for lifestyle advice as well.

There are many reasons as to why Irish men may not comply with healthier advice and prescriptions:

Many people do not comply with medication because they may find it hard to take something several times a day, they may experience side effects, they may have concerns about side effects, potential addiction or dependency, or they may simply find it too expensive. On top of this a man may feel psychologically that his maleness, his manliness, his sense of strength and his invulnerability are threatened by the need to take small pills every day. If you have concerns about any medication prescribed, discuss them with your doctor or pharmacist. I do not think there has ever been a pill made that cannot cause some side effects. Some degree of risk-benefit balancing may have to be done. However, your doctor may be able to suggest more suitable alternatives in many cases.

The Pill-for-every-Ill Culture

If you feel unwell or are concerned about something, you should always see your doctor. However, sometimes the best thing your doctor can prescribe for you is simply good advice. At times the best pill may be no pill at all. For example, many sore throats and upper respiratory infections are caused by viruses, which do not respond to antibiotics and would tend to clear themselves in time, sometimes with the aid of simple over-the-counter remedies. There is evidence that antibiotics are often over-prescribed for sore throats. This can be due to the doctor’s perception of the patient’s expectation of a prescription, sometimes fuelled by real patient demand for this. So, before you get your next prescription for a sore throat or cough, it might be worth asking the following questions:

If you can answer these questions you will have a much better understanding of the need, if any, to take medication. This will help to give you the knowledge, understanding and confidence needed to allow you to comply properly with the treatment given, leading to a better outcome for all.

Making a Change for Your Health

We are all essentially creatures of habit, so making a change is not easy. But making changes by developing newer, healthier habits can be the key to our long-term health and well-being. No matter how unfit you are, no matter how overweight you are, no matter how unhealthy your lifestyle has been up until now, it is never too late to make changes and, in terms of your health, there can be massive benefits just around the corner. I find the following tips useful when looking at positive health changes:

Challenges Going Forward

There is no doubt that there is an urgent need to advertise and promote men’s health in a positive way. Men have been the poor relation in terms of profile, media exposure, funding and lobby groups when it comes to men’s health issues. Women have been very proactive in terms of lobbying, quite rightly, for women’s health issues, including breast cancer screening and osteoporosis amongst others. These efforts are to be applauded.

However, there has not been the same exposure or drive for important men’s health issues, including prostate, bowel and testicular cancer, heart disease, diabetes and depression. The facts of these conditions speak for themselves. Male-specific health strategies must be adopted to try to help those men who haven’t been good at helping themselves.

Men’s health has a profound impact on all of us in society. It affects the children whose fathers are struck down with premature death or illness and the women whose husbands, fathers, sons and brothers are affected by ill health and premature death. This is not to mention the huge economic and social cost for society. Men’s health does indeed reflect the wealth of a nation. It affects all of us. As far as Irish men are concerned, your wealth really is your health. Treasure it!

Key Points

Key Points