September 17, 2024 – We know that men are more hesitant than women relating to looking for health care and self-care. But there are also gaps amongst men relating to who gets regular care and who doesn't.
Despite signs that the gender gap could also be slowly changing – a Cleveland Clinic study It was recently found that almost all men within the US prioritize a healthy lifestyle and greater than half of men within the generation
Last 12 months, a study A study conducted by Harvard researchers found that the difference in life expectancy between men and girls has grown to as much as six years. men are four times more prone to have one Abdominal aortic aneurysm. They get sick more often than women chronic diseases B. gout or bladder cancer, and die from suicide, drug overdose or heart disease. And they're less likely than women to hunt preventive care.
As men age, they have a tendency to take their health more seriously, and that trend needs to alter, experts say. Younger men, lots of whom say they don't have a primary care doctor or have never had their blood pressure, cholesterol or weight checked, need to begin dating earlier.
Sean Cavanaugh, a 55-year-old visual artist from New York City, said he still hasn't searched for a substitute after his primary care doctor left his insurance network.
“I do know I should get the shingles vaccine. I didn't have a colonoscopy. I want a comprehensive checkup – blood work, etc. I'm not being unrealistic, but I feel like I spend most of my time caring for others,” he said. “If there’s something really wrong with me, I’ll do it [seek care].”
Scott Stephens, a 62-year-old retired consultant from Middleburg, VA, said he didn't start thinking about his health care until he was 40, when his father was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
“I won’t get sick. I never had the flu and never needed antibiotics; All I went to the doctor for was self-inflicted broken bones, stitches and things like that,” he said. “It's only recently that I've began to essentially be proactive,” he said, sharing that he's on blood pressure medication and has a leaky heart valve that his doctors are keeping an eye on.
Hindsight is 20/20
There are several reasons why some men may not be as active about their health as their female peers. Strong beliefs about masculinity (e.g., the need to be stoic, to “bring power through pain,” and to care for loved ones) play an important role, as does a perceived stigma of displaying possible weaknesses. There's also a superhero factor, especially among younger men.
“When you're in your 20s or 30s, you're indestructible, you're Superman,” Stephens said. “It is also a sign of courage; Why should I go? I don’t have to call my doctor,” he added. “There has to be a life-changing event, whether it's an illness, someone close to you dying of a heart attack at a young age, or you starting to have children.”
This kind of thinking is widespread, said Ryon McDermott, PhD, a professor of clinical and counseling psychology at the University of South Alabama in Mobile and former president of a division of the American Psychological Association that focuses on the psychology of men and masculinities.
“Those really traditional gender roles, like the concept men can't seek help and should be self-sufficient, are by far the strongest predictors of health-seeking stigma and avoidance,” he said.
“From a young age, we are taught to internalize everything,” Stephens noted. “So-called real Men don't strive for mental health [care].”
But McDermott warned that this kind of rigidity tends to backfire.
“Medical problems are exacerbated by mental health problems and vice versa,” he said. “The connection between depression and diabetes is a classic example. Men also tend to externalize much of their psychological distress into some really problematic behaviors — for example, PTSD, excessive drinking, overwork, unprotected sex — which in turn cause their own medical problems, from heart disease to sexually transmitted diseases to HIV. “he said.
Fear also seems to play a job.
“I even have had many patients previously who can have been scuffling with something for a very long time and it took years for them to accumulate the motivation to come back to me. In some ways they knew something was mistaken but were afraid to go to the doctor,” said Petar Bajic, MD, a Cleveland Clinic urologist and director of men's health on the Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute in Cleveland. “Sometimes time is of the essence and the sooner we can intervene, these problems can actually be reversible. If you put things off for too long, damage can occur that is not reversible.”
Old dog, latest tricks
Most athletes wouldn't walk onto a field and play a game without first talking to the coach or reading the playbook. The same goes for healthcare, which has its own rules regarding when, if and screen for certain diseases. And this playbook just isn't kept in an emergency room facility, but is a standard and convenient point of contact when problems arise.
Too many men are turning to emergency take care of the treatment they must be receiving from a primary care doctor, Dr. John Messmer, a family physician and geriatrician at Penn State Health in Hershey, Pennsylvania. “Their job is not to take care of your long-term health, and they may not even take the time to ask you if you have had various preventative care tests.”
Another essential and fairly common issue is where men – especially Generation Z and Millennial men – get their health information. The technology has its limits, said Messmer. Depending on the source, “it's like diagnosing health care through the lens of a first-year medical student (who may even be better),” he said. “People are self-medicating, self-regulating and not necessarily seeing a primary care doctor,” he said.
Establishing a baseline early on can mean it's not too late to learn a brand new trick or two, not to say ensuring you stay as healthy as possible throughout your life.
In your 20s or 30s?
This is a superb time to eliminate the technology bug and make an appointment for basic measures.
“For general health maintenance, men should first start around age 21,” Messmer said, noting that this can also be a superb time to begin measuring levels of cholesterol, especially if there may be a family history. “Maybe they've a father or grandfather who died of a heart attack, never had any problems, but had high cholesterol all their life. This is about dementia risk, and should you spend your life build up cholesterol in your arteries, you're going to drive problems that would have been prevented,” he said.
Other concerns include weight, blood pressure, diabetes, and discussions about diet, physical activity, smoking, and drug/alcohol use. This is also the time to start self-examining the testicles to prevent testicular cancer, Bajic said.
Messmer said if nothing is found that requires closer attention, he recommends one or two more appointments for men in their 20s and three or four for men in their 30s.
In your 40s?
“We are seeing colorectal cancer in younger patients, which is why guidelines now recommend screening at age 45 instead of 50,” said Raymond K. Cross, MD, director of the Center for Inflammatory Bowel and Bowel Diseases at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore. But be careful! There are non-invasive alternatives to traditional colonoscopy, such as tests that look for hidden blood in stool samples.
Like others, Cross reinforced the need for primary care providers. They may detect the development of sudden digestive symptoms, low blood counts, or anemia. But Cross also said that, like high blood pressure, colon cancer can be silent. “The later you find it, the more likely it is to spread outside the colon into the lymph nodes, where it may not be curable,” he said.
Colon cancer screening should begin in men at the age of 40 and then repeat every 10 years. For men with a family history, Cross said an initial screening should occur five years before the relative's age at which the diagnosis was made and should be repeated every five years. The same applies to prostate, bladder and kidney cancer, said Bajic, emphasizing that family history should not be ignored.
At least two routine checkups are recommended in your 40s.
In your 50s or 60s?
“I've heard people say that if they had known they were going to live this long, they would have taken better care of themselves,” Messmer said.
Aside from the common bone and muscle problems that arise in a man's later years in the form of arthritis, Messmer emphasized that the '50s and '60s are the time when urological problems most commonly crop up. And while things like erectile dysfunction might attract men to the practice, he said those visits often provide an opportunity to address sexually transmitted infections and their prevention, as far as data goes has shown have increased at alarming rates among older people.
Older men should schedule not less than an annual physical exam, depending on their overall health, Messmer said. Vaccinations, particularly for flu, COVID-19 and shingles, are also essential, especially for men with other medical conditions.
Ultimately, no matter age, it is rarely too late to handle your individual mental health. “The brain and the body are obviously very connected,” McDermott said.