by Jennifer Cole 

 

 

Heart Disease – Last year 930,000 Americans died from heart disease. The AMA says that heart disease starts about 10 years earlier in men than women. As a man you have a shorter time to prevent the development of the condition so your risk is that much greater. Stress may not be the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of ways to lower your chances of developing heart disease. Men seem more likely to fly into a rage or venting than women do. Emotional outbursts increase your blood pressure, heart rate and your adrenalin levels. The risk of having a heart attack for men increases after age 45. That’s 10 years earlier than women. Studies have shown that a 10% decrease in total cholesterol levels can reduce the development of coronary heart disease by as much as 30%. Even a slight change can make a huge improvement. Risk factors include -

Increase in age

Family history and race

Smoking

High Blood Cholesterol

High Blood Pressure

Physical Inactivity

Obesity and being overweight

Diabetes

Cancer – Almost 286,000 men in the US lost their lives to cancer. The most common form for men is lung cancer with 90% of deaths being linked to cigarette smoking. If a person stops smoking, your risk of this cancer is so reduced that after about 15 years your chances of developing the disease are similar to that of a non-smoker. Prostate cancer comes in second for men. Some studies have suggested that diets high in saturated fats can contribute to prostate cancer. Almost all men will eventually get prostate cancer if they live long enough since it is usually a slow growing cancer. Your chance of developing this cancer increases dramatically at the age of 55. Almost one-third of all cancer deaths are related to things you can control in your lifestyle. They include:

Exercise regularly

Eat healthy

Avoid overexposure to the sun

Limit alcohol

Visit your doctor on a regular basis for check ups

Know your family medical history and review it with your health care professional     

Stroke  This is the leading cause of disability in the US as well as being number three on the killer of men. Risk factors you can take control of include high blood pressure, smoking, lack of exercise and a diet high in fat and cholesterol. Obviously risk factors that you have no control of would be your family history, age, sex and race. Men are 30% more likely to suffer a stroke than women. As with the other diseases listed above, you should follow a healthy lifestyle. Included in this is controlling the stress in your life. Do you realize that suicide is number 8 on the leading killers of men?

  

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) – this term is used for chronic lung conditions including chronic bronchitis and emphysema. The main cause of COPD’s is smoking. Being a smoker increases your risk of dying from one of these diseases by up to ten times! Your quality of life becomes unbelievably difficult – simple tasks such as breathing or small physical challenges – and eventually you might only be able to breathe with oxygen or a ventilator. If you smoke, you may seriously want to seek help with quitting for good. Maybe visit a patient in the hospital who is on a ventilator from this horrible disease - that could change anyone’s mind.

 

Diabetes – This is a group of diseases that affect the way your body uses blood sugar. Over 17 million of us have diabetes and almost 6 million don’t know they have it. 70,000 people in 2000 died of this and almost 32,000 of them were men. There is no cure for diabetes but it may be preventable. Most of the time people become aware of it only when faced with one of its life-threatening complications. Advanced diabetes can cause kidney disease, blindness and severe nerve damage. If you suffer from this disease you are also two to four times more likely to have a stroke or heart disease. Type 2 diabetes is the most common form. It usually develops after age 40 and is linked to obesity. Now researchers are finding that Type 2 is now occurring at younger ages.