Five Ways to Help Your Male Patient Improve His Health Today—No ‘Script Required

By Annette Boyle, MDalert.com contributing writer.
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  • Five things you can tell a male patient to help him improve his health today.
  • Nearly anything other than sitting can be considered exercise.
  • Recommend that your patients set a time to turn off devices and tune into their physical surroundings.
  • Maintaining a strong social life can have significantly positive influence on survival.

Talk to Your Patient

Put down the pad and have an honest talk with your male patients about what they’re really willing to do to improve their health. If they’re equally honest, they may say they don’t have time to do much, but they’d like to have more energy, build or maintain muscle mass, enjoy a rocking sex life, think more clearly, and figure out how to live to a healthy old age. You’d be remiss if you didn’t suggest that smokers quit and obese men try to lose weight, but those lifestyle changes are hard for many men to make. Give yourself and your male patients a sense of success with these 5 easy tips that can improve their health, starting today:

  1. Unplug. After a day of school or work, many men unwind by watching television or playing video games. Others continue to stay tethered to their jobs and friends by responding to emails and posting to social media sites. Recommend that your patients set a time to turn off devices and tune into their physical surroundings. Leaving the screens behind can protect eyes and other muscles from strain and pain, relieve stress associated with the need to immediately read and respond to every update and email, improve sleep, and leave more time for hobbies, personal expression, exercise and building relationships with others. Guys who spend a lot of time laying on the sofa with their laptop may have additional incentive to reduce screen time—heat from the device can reduce sperm count.
  2. Connect—in person. Recent research shows that social isolation can be as harmful as smoking, so advise the men you see to take steps to connect with others. If they already live with people, limiting screen exposure can give them more time to really make eye contact and listen to their partners, children, friends or roommates. It can also leave them more time to join a sports team, take a class or pick up a new hobby that puts them in contact with folks who have similar interests. For homebodies, getting a dog can provide important companionship, reduce blood pressure, and improve mental health.
  3. Eat berries. For meat-and-potato types, berries are an easy introduction to the wonders of fruits and vegetables. They give a sweet kick to meals and snacks while also providing important nutrients. Even vegans, though, can benefit from adding berries to their diet. Blueberries, blackberries, strawberries and other berries have high levels of antioxidants that protect cells from damage and may prevent declines in cognitive function and motor control.
  4. Walk. Getting 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week, such as walking, improves cardiovascular health and mood, helps maintain or achieve a healthy weight, and reduces the risk of colon cancer and diabetes. Usually, the recommendation breaks down to 30 minutes 5times a week, but men new to exercise may say they don’t have half an hour to take a stroll. You can help them get going by telling them that 10 minutes three times a day works just as well. They could easily get in 10 minutes by parking a little further away from the door at work and taking the stairs up to the office instead of the elevator or going for an after dinner walk just around the neighborhood with their partner, kids or dog.
  5. Sleep. Chances are many of your male patients are chronically sleep deprived—almost a third of Americans are, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC recommends 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night for adults, but 30% report regularly sleeping for less than 6 hours. (See Figure.) Anatomy accounts for one reason many men get insufficient sleep, as men are more likely to have fat deposits around the neck which can contribute to sleep apnea. Sleep apnea and other sleep disordered breathing affects about 1 in 3 men, so if your patients fail to feel rested after 8 hours of sleep, you may want to recommend a sleep study to make sure the problem isn’t physical. Sleep deprivation doesn’t just cause embarrassment as men dose off in meetings, it is a major contributor to motor vehicle accidents, impaired memory, obesity, depression, diabetes and hypertension and can significantly lower overall quality of life.

 

Häggström, Mikael. "Medical gallery of Mikael Häggström 2014". Wikiversity Journal of Medicine 1(2). DOI:10.15347/wjm/2014.008ISSN 20018762. All used images are in public domain.


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