Healthy young men?

Men don’t talk to doctors or think about their health as often as women, especially when they’re young. But as they get into their fifties their habits start to catch up with them and they start to suffer from illnesses like heart disease, diabetes and breathing problems. Many of these diseases could be prevented if men looked after themselves, “It’s all about choices”, says local GP, Dr Carlisle, who introduced a Men’s Health Day on Thursday 12 June organised by the North Sheffield Primary Care Trust as part of National Men’s Health Week.

The facts
• The average man can expect to be seriously or chronically ill
for 15 years of his life
• 27% of men drink alcohol at a level that could be harmful to health
• 45% of men are overweight and an additional 17% are obese
• One in five men can expect to die from heart disease
before they are 75 years old
• 28% of men smoke. Every 5 minutes a smoker dies from
a smoking-related disease.
• Men who are defined as partly skilled or unskilled have
a life expectancy of less than 70 years
• Deaths from liver disease typically linked to heavy drinking
have risen 121% among British men in the last 20 years

“A wise man ought to realise that his health is his most valuable possession” – Hippocrates (460–337BC)