This week is men’s health week around the world and maybe timely to get the message out  to our husbands, fathers, boyfriends, sons etc that to be sick, anxious, stressed, depressed is ok. Our bodies will get sick and our emotions will sometimes get out of whack, this is normal and it is NOT a sign of weakness.

I was saddened but perhaps not shocked to read an article written on men’s health by Movember late last year, a group who are trying to change the view and attitudes of men to their own health.

Did you know that:

  • Every hour, more than four men die from potentially preventable conditions in Australia
  • Male deaths are greater across all age groups and the total burden of disease and injury (including premature death, ill health and disability) for males in Australia is 10% higher than for females
  • Nearly two thirds of Australia’s population is overweight, with men being twice as likely to be overweight or obese than women
  • Men are more likely to smoke than women, with about one in five men smoking compared to one in seven women
  • Excluding skin cancer, testicular cancer is the most common cancer in Australian males between the ages of 15 and 39

I have only touched the tip of the iceberg here and the article goes into a lot more details.

Why is a trip to the Doctor or Naturopath one of the last things they consider? Is asking for help seen as a sign of weakness? Is education and awareness to blame?

A few years ago a colleague told me about a situation that nearly left her husband crippled. She was on a course in Sydney for a week and just before she left her diabetic husband told her he had a blister on his foot from where his shoe had been rubbing. She told him to watch it as diabetics need to be extra careful about their feet. 5 days later she arrived back and had to drop everything and drive him to the Wesley Hospital where he was admitted immediately. His foot had started to display signs of gangrene, his leg was red up to his knee and it was so serious that he nearly lost his leg. He was is hospital for 5 days! He didn’t think it was serious enough to seek help.

Hopefully organisations like Movember will, with time, get that message across and change the way men think about their health.

In my clinics things are slowly changing and men now make up about 30% of my clients base seeking help mainly for men’s issues, anxiety and phobias.