Men's Wellness- Why you need to start taking control of your health
Wellbeing is important for anyone and here at YEG Wellness
Collective, we frequently state that we advocate for EVERYONE- and this
includes men. While the rise of feminism is steadily growing and female equality
has been pursued in many spheres of life, health is one area women seem to have
excelled at for a long time. And who may have fallen between the cracks in this
arena? Men. How?
Well let’s look at some facts
-Men are 3x more likely to take their lives than women
-Men in mid-life remain overwhelmingly dependent on their
partner for emotional support
-Men do use therapy but when they are at a point of crisis
-Men between the ages of 18-44 are less likely to see a
doctor than women
-67% of men feel their mental health is secondary to that of
a partner
So clearly men have SOMETHING to gain in investing into
their overall health and wellbeing. But we aren’t talking about working out and
getting abs, gentlemen. We are talking about that holistic approach to wellbeing
that we have been advocating about from day 1. No we acknowledge that there is something
being done about men’s health. Movember encourages mustache growth in exchange
for focusing on men’s health, Livestrong Foundation has continued to raised
awareness of male health. But in spite of their efforts, it is fair to say that
they have not been nearly as visible or well known when compared to breast
cancer’s pink ribbon campaigns.
So where do we start?
By talking about it. Teaching men that it is okay to ask for
help, to learn how to better advocate for themselves, and ask them what do they
need to WANT to seek out services? Learning self-care (which we will talk about
Sunday) and understanding there is a difference in regards to men and women’s
health.
We can also start by having men start focusing on specific things
regarding their health such as
-having yearly physical check ups
- knowing their numbers (cholesterol, blood pressure, BMI
and waist, glucose, and PSA- Prostate-Specific Atigen)
-foster better emotional health: loneliness and stress are
common and are not indicative of weakness
-become more connected- male friendships and peer support are
essential for overall wellbeing
Men, you need to learn how to become more proactive about your health. The problem with seeing your doctor only when something is wrong is that you often miss the early signs of more serious health problems. For example, erectile dysfunction can be a symptom of serious conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, blood pressure problems, and so forth. So it may not just be erectile dysfunction.
Even in our own search it was actually pretty hard to find
trustworthy, accurate, and informative information pertaining to men’s
wellness. So we get it. It’s frustrating to understand what to do and more
frustrating to not understand where to get the answers you need.
We hope that this week we can help uncover some important
information, get the conversation started, and connect you to some great community
resources to better navigate your on personal health journey. Because men, we
want you to live just as long as us females, but statistically speaking you are
shedding off 4 years of your life compared to your female counterparts. So let’s
start changing the statistic and get everyone on the right track in supporting
male health!
Sources:
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