Australia boasts a high life expectancy, but men live significantly shorter lives than women. Male death rates exceed female rates in all age groups except those over 65, as fewer men reach retirement age.
Men’s health is impacted by physical risks, like dangerous jobs and risk-taking, and lifestyle factors, including poor stress management and a limited understanding of holistic health beyond physical ability. Men are also less likely to go to a GP or health professional when they have a health concern.
This leads to a list of health complications including increased risk of cardiovascular disease (high blood pressure and cholesterol levels), cancer (especially prostate, lung and bowel cancer), suicide, diabetes. Men outnumber women in all these categories and have higher death rates from all these diseases as well.
Therefore, it is so important for men to understand their own health from a wholistic point of view which allows them to realise all the biopsychosocial factors that effect their health. This month talk to your GP about factors that might be affecting your health and discuss the benefits of a referral to an Accredited Exercise Physiologist (AEP). An AEP is a health professional that can provide tailored exercise prescription and lifestyle change advice that could severely improve your quality of life and decrease your risk of developing a range of chronic diseases.
Need help or advice, contact our friendly team
Further details please refer to:
Source: Hall, R.H., 2003. Promoting men’s health. Australian family physician, 32(6), p.401.
Smith, J.A. and Robertson, S., 2008. Men’s health promotion: a new frontier in Australia and the UK?. Health Promotion International, 23(3), pp.283-289.