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It’s Men’s Health Month!
(Yes, it’s a real thing)
It’s Men’s Health Month, one of the best kept secrets in the US. Why? Because everyone thinks we’ve already dealt with men’s health and don’t realize that we still have a lot of work to do.
When I tell people about the work I do in men’s health I usually get one of three responses:
1) But haven’t we already studied men?
Studied? Yes. Learned how to use that knowledge to help better the health of men? Not so much. Sure we know the signs and symptoms of a heart attack in men, but we haven’t figured out how to get men to actually do something when they’re showing those signs and symptoms. Men are way less likely to go to the doctor than women. They would prefer to do almost anything else rather than go to the doctor, including cleaning the bathroom. Seriously, check out the results of the Cleveland Clinic’s MENtion it campaign where they found that 72% of men would rather do household chores than go to the doctor.
The truth is that with all we know, we haven’t found a way to communicate with men about their health in a way that gets them to take action. One suggestion for talking to men (and my favorite) is to use humor. I think that Man Therapy is a great starting resource.