| With the another member of our AFL Masters recently having cardiac problems, it seems fitting to have a bit of a serious think about our health. | ||
| The days of just getting up, having a run and expecting the body to perform at peak condition are long gone - some days just breathing is an effort and the body complains bitterly from minimal effort that I used to take for granted. This article - at the instigation (nagging) of Ming - is an attempt to address some of the issues that affect the health of your average middle aged male. This is hard to accept but that is exactly what we are - and some of us have even left that category behind. For those of you not interested in reaching old age - stop reading now - and may whatever deity you pray to be kind to you. There are those fatalists who believe that whatever is written will come to pass but for those who believe that prevention is better than cure - read on. Others will point to a favorite great uncle who lived hard, smoked and drank heavily and is still chasing the nurses in some nursing home - sure, some are lucky but they tend to be a bit lonely as their mates who tried to keep up with them tended to die young. Well, what is “Men’s Health”? I suppose it is all the medical issues that women don’t claim as their own. When I was a younger “Doc” there was no such thing - I only studied human health. No argument, prostate and testicular disease is definitely ours alone but the number one enemy by far is heart disease. It is rare for a woman to have a heart attack before menopause (about age 50 for those that don’t know) but guys drop like flies. “More than half the men who don’t make retirement age (65 for most of us) will die from heart attacks”. And since only about 30% of people die from their heart attacks, this translates to a lot of heart attacks. Think about it. For those of you with life insurance premiums - have a look at how the premiums suddenly start to rise rapidly from about 50 on. Since the insurance industry is only interested in a profit, it stands to reason that there are a lot of men falling of the perch and collecting on their policies - sorry, lots of widows collecting on the policies. | Women do a lot better - if you don’t believe me, just go down to the retirement village or nursing home and you will see the men are greatly outnumbered. Whatever women do, they do better than us boys - and it seems to rub off as the statistics also show that married men live longer than single men (but are more willing to die - so the joke goes). Well, it's no secret - women look after their health much better - most men don’t go near a doctor unless they are feeling ill - often a bit late in the case of a heart attack. They will attend to fix the current problem but usually don’t think about prevention - the bloody car gets looked after much better than the body with regular services maintenance and tuning. is exactly what we are... What should we do? Heart Disease is the end result of a number of factors which may be present for decades before it hits - the most important factors - in order of importance - are: High Blood Pressure, Smoking, High Cholesterol, Diabetes and Obesity. Now, we all will eventually get hardened arteries as we get old but I for one, want to get it at age 90 not 55. The conditions above are disturbances in the body function which accelerate the natural “wear and tear” - and generally you won’t feel there is anything wrong until the damage is done. It’s not a bad analogy but when the oil pressure light comes on in the dashboard, it’s generally a good idea to take it to the garage and get it fixed before you blow the gasket on the freeway. Address the disturbance in function before it does the damage. As we get into our middle years, more and more “disturbances’ start to appear and, like the car, regular services are now in order. You don’t have to live at the doctor’s - from about age 40 onwards one good checkup (a proper 10,000 mile service) every one to two years is recommended. Along with the assessment of your heart risks, a proper checkup will address your other health issues including the prostate, sexual health | and lifestyle issues. For you fellas getting to the “50 +” category an exercise ECHO / stress test is probably not a bad idea before you push hard on the footy field - I’m having mine done at the end of July. (The breathing has been getting worse than usual recently.) Now you have to find yourself a doc who can give you a proper checkup - these days with the “5 minute medicine” some docs - like garages - are just not geared up to provide this type of service. A “full checkup” should provide a review of your past and current medical and lifestyle issues, family history, check medication, allergies and vaccination, an assessment of your heart, and lung function (possibly ECG and lung function testing), check your urine and do a complete physical examination - not just a quick listen to your heart and lungs and check the Blood Pressure. Yes - the checkup includes that dreaded “prostate test”. Most full checkups would take a good hour plus to do properly. And that is the easy part - if the checkup identifies a problem, the hard bit is to do something about it. This often means hard decisions about diet, lifestyle and stopping smoking. For all of you still dragging on the evil weed(s) - whether you like to hear it or not - the sad facts are that smoking reduces your life expectancy by about 14 - 15 years. They don’t print the warnings on the packet for nothing. One very positive thing we are all doing - we are all out there exercising - a very important benefit in prevention of blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease. Here is something that is fun and is actually good for you. As I tell my good wife who views my footballing rather dubiously - sure I may risk a strained “hammie” or a broken finger but these mend easily and it sure beats the hell out of sitting around, getting fatter and waiting for my heart attack. Just make sure you look after yourself and are fit enough to run around out there. We don’t want to lose any more friends. Good Health Fellas, The Doc. |
| Dr. Joe Juhasz, 200 High St. Lower Templestowe, Vic, 3106, Ph: (03)8850-0500 m:0412-400-653 |