Try these tips to become proactive about your health
By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant
You don’t have to allow your health to deteriorate over time. With a few proactive steps, you can prevent a multitude of health issues later in life — or curtail the effects of existing bad health habits.
Adopting a healthful lifestyle with enjoyable physical activity can help keep you moving.
“Move consistently,” said Casey Donovan, nurse practitioner at Fulton Primary Care.
Try picking up an activity you enjoyed in high school. Or try something new. If it’s hard to know where to start first, seek help. But simply getting out to walk for 30 minutes daily, along with a few resistance training sessions weekly, can improve overall health and longevity.
“Strength training a couple times a week helps increase and maintain muscle mass,” Donovan said. “This helps lower risk of heart diseases, falls and diabetes as you age. It helps increase testosterone levels. Cardio is also important for heart health.”
As important as it is to move, it’s also important to rest. Donovan said that quality sleep is often overlooked.
“If your partner reports you’re snoring or you have daytime fatigue, see a primary care provider to rule out sleep apnea, which is big in the male population,” he said. “Sleep apnea is when you have breathing pauses while you’re sleeping. It can cause high blood pressure and daytime sleepiness.”
Too little quality sleep can affect mood and mental function.
In addition, Donovan said that many men neglect their mental health.
“It’s overlooked,” he said. “Men have increased stress, anxiety and burnout from working and day-to-day activity. Mental health can be pushed aside for men. Poor mental health seeps into other aspects of your life. You’re frustrated easier and don’t feel like you have the energy for self-care.
“If you’re feeling that you’re getting frustrated, angry or depressed, talk to a healthcare provider. Bring it up. It’s becoming less stigmatized. We’re finding what a large population it affects.”
Eating right has far-reaching effects on innumerable aspects of health, including reducing inflammation, curbing weight, sustaining health through nutrition and sufficient hydration. It’s easy to get in the habit of trying to “outrun your fork” by exercising in lieu of eating right. However, proper diet is more important than exercise, which is a close second.
“Eat good whole foods and enough lean protein like chicken and fish,” Donovan said. “Eat whole fruits and vegetables. We’re coming into summer when it’s available at local farmers’ markets. They have micronutrients and fiber.”
Avoid eating plans that cut out entire food groups and are not balanced.
Proportionate with dipping testosterone levels, inactive men 25 to 60 years old lose approximately 0.5% of their muscle mass annually and after age 60, this rate can double. Eating too little protein exacerbates the problem. Aim for 0.17 to 7 grams of protein per pound of body weight.
He also wants men to talk with their providers about having their PSA blood test beginning around age 45 to 50 to screen for prostate cancer. Caught early, prostate cancer is very treatable. The same goes for colonoscopy. Begin around age 45 to 50. Any polyps found can be removed, thus preventing the development of colon cancer.
Minimize alcohol use. According to the National Cancer Institute, “people who drink alcohol are at higher risk of certain cancers than those who do not drink alcohol and that the more someone drinks, the higher the risk of these cancers. Even light drinkers can be at increased risk of some cancers.”
Use only prescribed medication and avoid illicit drugs, smoking and vaping. Men still outnumber women for smoking tobacco. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that 13.1% of US men smoke, compared with 10.1% of women. Smoking causes lung damage and tobacco use in general contributes to a plethora of cancers. Anecdotal reports of popcorn lung and other diseases point to the danger of vaping. It’s also concerning that the majority of vaping liquid which widely contains ingredients such as nickel and lead, originates in countries lacking the consumer safety laws upheld in the US.
“If you’re a smoker, quit,” Donovan said. “You can talk with your provider about it. Get a low—dose CT scan if you have been a smoker for years.”
Instead of relying on the tale of the uncle who lived to 100 despite smoking a daily cigar, realize that tobacco use “can cause damage in the long run that can be insidious in the onset,” said physician Tarek Sousou, board president of Hematology-Oncology Associates of CNY.
Puffing now means problems later.
Most health issues are more easily prevented or mitigated with professional guidance. He encourages men to “see your primary care provider at least one time a year. That really is the starting point for staying healthy.”
“One of things doctors do to help people stay healthy is to find problems before you become unhealthy. Screenings can help you stay healthy. Listen to your body. Some patients have preceding symptoms before something significant happens with their health,” he added. “Doctors like hearing from patients because we can intervene before something isn’t treatable. This is better for us as we want to make a difference in patients’ lives.”