Spotlight on Men's Health

Erica Moss is the community manager for Georgetown University's online MSN degree program. She also enjoys blogging, TV and pop culture.

Maintaining a sound mind and sound body is an ever-present challenge for both men and women, but the lack of awareness around the topic of men's health is a disturbing reality. Maintaining a proper diet and exercise is not an easy task, but a surprising number of men don't have the basic facts about the most common risks to their health, and to change that, we need more education around this important issue.

The Problem

More than half of all premature deaths among men are preventable, according to the infographic below. Causes of preventable death include smoking, obesity, alcohol and drug use, and some types of cancer (such as testicular cancer, which can be treated effectively if detected early). Men are also less likely than women to take advantage of the health care resources that they have access.

Via Nurse Practitioner Programs and Nursing License Map

This potentially fatal tendency not to address health problems when the opportunity presents itself might be rooted in ignorance or in the cultural belief that it is unmanly to admit weakness or seek help from others. Either way, it leads to needless complications and, unfortunately, deaths.

Education

The fact that so many men's deaths are preventable can be seen as an enormous opportunity as well as an enormous tragedy. By educating the public about the most common risks to men's health and making health care resources available to everyone, it would be possible to extend the lives of an enormous number of people. Such initiatives could cover things that men can easily do themselves, such as regular testicular self-exams.

They could also make clear the necessity of seeing a doctor regularly and recognizing the early warning signs of heart attacks, which two-thirds of men do not respond to by seeking professional help.

Additional aspects of men's health education could focus on making informed decisions about everyday risk factors, like eating healthy and exercising regularly. It is common sense that men who are aware of the nutritional content of their food are more likely to choose foods that will not put them at risk of diabetes or obesity later in life, but, unfortunately, some men also choose to take risks. Such dangerous and rigid ideas about gender also need to be a part of our national conversation about men's health.

The importance of education on this issue is clear: It saves lives.