5 Top Health Threats to Men
Women are simply healthier than men – from infancy to old age. Men lead women in the 15 leading causes of death, except Alzheimer’s disease, and that’s because many men don’t live long enough to develop it. On average, men still die five years earlier than their wives, although the gender gap is closing.
Demetrius Porche, DNS, RN, editor in chief of the American Journal of Men’s Health says, “Men put their health last.” “Most men’s thinking is, if they can live up to their roles in society, then they’re healthy.”
Cardiovascular Disease: The Leading Men’s Health Threat
They call it atherosclerosis, meaning “hardening of the arteries.” But it could as easily be from the Latin for “a man’s worst enemy.”
Darwin Labarthe, MD, MPH, PhD, director of the Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention at the CDC says, “Heart disease and stroke are the first and second leading causes of death worldwide, in both men and women” “It’s a huge global public health problem, and in the U.S. we have some of the highest rates.”
Lung Cancer: Still a Health Threat to Men
Lung cancer is a horrible disease: aggressive, ugly, and almost always metastatic. It spreads early, usually before it grows large enough to cause symptoms or even show up on an X-ray. Till the time it’s found, it is often advanced and difficult to cure. Less than 50% of men are alive a year later.
Prostate Cancer: A Leading Cancer for Men
Women don’t have prostates after all. The prostate is a walnut-sized gland behind the penis that secretes fluids important for ejaculation, the prostate is prone to problems as men age.
Close to 200,000 men will develop prostate cancer this year in the U.S. This one is the most common cancer in men other than skin cancer.
Depression and Suicide: Men Are at Risk
Depression doesn’t just mean a rough patch, a bad mood, or the blues. It’s an emotional disturbance that affects your whole body and overall health. Stress hormones and brain chemicals are out of balance. Appetite, sleep, and energy levels are disturbed. Men with depression are even more likely to develop heart disease.
Diabetes: The Silent Health Threat for Men
Diabetes normally begins silently, without symptoms. Blood sugar levels creep higher over the years, eventually spilling into the urine. The resulting thirst and frequent urination are what finally bring many men to the doctor.
The high sugar of diabetes is anything but sweet. Excess glucose acts as a slow poison on blood vessels and nerves everywhere in the body. Strokes, heart attacks, kidney failure, blindness, and amputations are the fallout for thousands of men.
