Tags
Men’s Health Week is from 10th – 16th June. I know this because I read it on Clive’s ‘Take It Easy’ blog recently.
Men, as far as I can tell, don’t really take their health very seriously, especially if they’re younger than 50. Wives and girlfriends send them to work with salads and shredded tofu for instance, and they’ll chuck it away and buy a bacon sarnie or three. Then it’s ‘let’s see if I can drink more pints than him’ down the pub in the evenings, and after that they’ll top it all off with kebab and chips before staggering home. I’m talking generally here and I know there are exceptions, so please bear with me…
The exceptions are the grunters at the gym, like the hunk in the featured image. Once they get the fitness bug they go all out and build up their muscles so much that they can’t put a sandwich to their mouth because their biceps are in the way. They’ll run for miles and injure their knees, but they’ll still keep on running because they can’t give up the endorphin rush.
Once they get past 50, their excesses will start to catch up with them, but any mention of going to see the doctor brings laughter and derision. Sam, for instance, thinks all doctors are pervs, and he hasn’t seen one since his vasectomy back in 1985! However, now he’s 61 he has started to take his health more seriously. He cycles with me at weekends, walks in the evenings, and has given up fizzy drinks, bread, dairy, tea and coffee, but alas not beer (he says he has to have something to live for!).
Do men think it’s unmanly to talk about their illnesses to doctors? Would they rather not know what they’re suffering from? When Sam and I reached 60, we were invited to undertake a free health check on the NHS. I dragged Sam along, kicking and screaming to the nurse, but we both passed the tests okay. However, like many other 60 year olds, we were then asked whether we’d like a ‘do-it-yourself’ home test kit for bowel cancer. I said yes and so did Sam, and the envelopes duly arrived in the post. Would Sam take part when it came to the crunch? No. The envelope sat there for months until it reached its sell-by date.
My father died aged 49 from advanced prostate cancer which had spread throughout his body. He left it too late to get treated. Mum, on the other hand, went to the doctor straight away when she saw the first signs of uterine cancer. It was treated, and she lived another 30 years and saw her grandchildren grow up and produce children of their own. Dad didn’t live long enough to even walk me up the aisle on my wedding day. Men, read, mark and inwardly digest those words and look after your health! You cannot get away from yourself and you will end up living with the legacy of your excesses!
Lecture over. Let’s see how many men respond to this…
Stevie Turner 
Great post Stevie, and always enjoy your real life shares. I had to chuckle when you guys were going to do the ‘test’ . It brought back unpleasant memories, lolol. 🙂 But good your influence on Sam inspires him. So of course he should still be allowed beers, lol.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sam goes his own way. I don’t have much influence, lol.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Lol, at least you try! 🙂 x
LikeLiked by 2 people
In order to keep his class 1 driver’s licence, hubby had to go for a full medical every two years. During one medical, signs of prostate cancer were detected. It was dealt with immediately and thankfully he has been cancer free for 15 years. He is a big believer in having medical things looked after asap.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Absolutely. If only all men were like him…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for sharing this! I think a huge part of it is that physical standards for men are just not typically as high as they are for women. The whole “dad bod” craze is part of that – culturally, young men are allowed to party and drink beer and eat pizza to their hearts’ content; middle aged men and older are culturally allowed to go bald and have wrinkles and bad skin and develop a paunch. Women never get that grace – we expect women to perpetually look 18 – and there is no female equivalent of the “dad bod” look, as far as I know.
There are obviously a number of other sociocultural factors at play here, such as pride and trying to look “strong” or “tough” or what have you.
I’m one of those guys who prefers a salad to a hamburger any day, but that’s probably because I was raised vegetarian and because I’m gay haha 😉 But all joking aside, I think among my age group, there is definitely a growing health-awareness for men, but we’re still as a group not nearly where we should be!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I suppose young men consider it a rite of passage to drink beer, eat pizza and party. The young tend not to think too much about the future, but when the future hits them in the form of heart disease and painful joints because of paunch/extra weight, then they’ll think about doing something about it, but by then it might be too late. My cousin is gay, and he says there’s no ageing in the gay world! He’s always having some kind of plastic surgery to look younger. I try and tell him he looks great as he is, but he’s one who goes to the other extreme. He’s 52 and to me he looks like a healthy middle aged man, but alas he wants to look 16 again. It ain’t gonna happen…
LikeLike
Yes, sometimes it feels like one long slog – you have a vegetarian meal planned for dinner, but they have a bacon sarni when they’re out or call in at the deli for a pound of sliced fat and salt! So sad about your dad, I don’t suppose many men had even heard of prostate cancer then.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Probably not, and embarrassment stops them from visiting a doctor. They tend to live for the moment and not worry about the long-term effect of too many bacon sarnies…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for the link, Stevie. You’re absolutely right: we men bury our heads in the sand until it is too late. I’ve been guilty of this too, but am now in a long course of treatment. I hope others read this and don’t put off doing the right thing.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Hope you’ll soon feel better, Clive.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, that’s kind of you 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
The problem is, how does the general mocking of men for ‘man flu” fit into the picture.
I know you don’t do it, but I’ve had women complain to me that their husband won’t go to the doctor for some regular checkup, but I’ve seen them chase him out of the house when he’s obviously ill, because it’s just man flu
LikeLiked by 3 people
Good point, Jim. A lot of men tend to try and live up to that ‘strong and silent’ male characteristic. Trouble is, when they’re feeling ill they don’t tell anyone!
LikeLiked by 1 person
and if they do it’s ‘man flu’ and they get the mickey taken over it 😦
The person who invented the mocking epithet ‘man flu’ has probably killed more men that a lot of diseases
LikeLiked by 1 person
mind you, I ought to say thanks because until you’d mentioned it I’d not really come across. men’s health week
Certainly I’ve not heard anything from the doctors about it 😦
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nor had I. I only learned about it from reading Clive’s blog.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very true.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think it is hard to make a generalization about men, but yes, there are some of us who don’t pay close enough attention to our health. (We can be big babies). If I were to assess my own roles in life, I believe I’ve been a good husband, father, son, brother, friend, and teacher. The one person I didn’t look after close enough was myself.
The good news is we can always turn over a new leaf. Since my retirement three years ago, I finally eat like an adult, exercise regularly, and generally take better care of myself. I’ve lost seventy pounds and look forward to having many great experiences with my future grandchildren. Having regular colonoscopies is part of taking care of yourself.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Absolutely. Glad to hear you’re looking after your health, Pete.
LikeLike