June 10-16 is National Men’s Health Week
Father’s Day is Sunday but men should already be celebrating themselves. This week is Men’s Health Week, a time for males to learn to take control of their health. They certainly need the extra encouragement: men were 24% less likely than women to see a doctor last year.
That’s a shame considering that 1) heart disease, 2) cancer, and 3) accidents (unintentional injuries) are the top causes of death for men. Obviously you can’t predict an accident, but you can prevent and treat things like colon cancer and heart disease with earlier diagnosis. That’s why men need to man up and begin having regular checkups and screenings.
Health screenings vary based on age, so if you want to find out more about what you’re in for before you check-in, check this out:
1) Be physically active and make healthy food choices. Take more than a bathroom break from your basketball video game to go outside and shoot hoops at the local park. And instead of ordering takeout as a reward for exercising, take yourself out to the market and buy an apple or two a day.
2) Get to your healthy weight and stay there. You don’t have to be as bulky as the Hulk. First find out which weight best suits your body and then figure out how to maintain x amount of pounds. It won’t happen in a day, but pretty soon your suit size won’t change.
3) Become tobacco free. This one should be self-explanatory, but just to clarify, don’t smoke, don’t smoke, don’t smoke. Avoid everything tobacco-related like it’s the plague – because it actually is as deadly as the plague.
4) Drink only in moderation. There’s nothing more unattractive than a handsome man who reeks of liquor everyday. Not only is alcohol bad for your body, it causes even the best of us to make stupid decisions, which often results in accidents (see above for the #3 cause of death). If you drink, drink responsibly and save your dignity, your liver, and your life.
5) Manage stress. People who say they never stress out are lying. Stress is inevitable, but the key is to not let anxiety get the best of you. Don’t wait until the last minute to combat a panic attack: take control of your own reactions in general, and focus on what makes you feel calm, cool, and collected. Mental and physical exercise are effective stress relievers, so pick up a book or go for a run – or if you’re really ambitious, try reading while running.
Men’s health week is the perfect time to learn how to be a man – and that means managing your health before you end up as a man down.
Sufen Wang, M.S. Accountancy
Wang Solutions, Long Beach, CA (562) 856-0793
Editor: Hannah Huff, M.F.A. Creative Writing: Poetry, (626) 806-5805
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