Can we get healthier outcomes from Aussie men?

Living a healthy life, taking care with diet and exercise instead of sinking into bitterness, with these obstacles is indeed a challenge; it’s all a challenge. But many have managed to do it successfully. Resilient males can survive better and be better husbands, lovers, and dads.

Healthy diet

Ask men what they like and you’ll probably get an answer. “Sex, of course.” Men who vow they are not interested in sex are looked on with distrust - religious priests and brothers, for instance. But men also love to eat. We form eating habits in our youth and enjoy our food, most of us. As we get older we tend to become less active. And we keep eating much the same amount. So here I am well over 50 (oh OK, I’m 63 and a bit) and I have to limit my fried food. I do better to ban ice cream from the house because I pig out. It all ends up on the tummy! Many of us struggle to eat sensibly and find food which is nourishing, quick to prepare and at a reasonable price. And many men are cooking for themselves these days. We need more help with interesting ways to present healthy food.

Raising boys to be healthier

Many of the above point to an obvious issue - raising boys. The paper says that boys learn living habits as they grow up which can encourage them to eat well and exercise. Or they can learn to like junk food and slump at the TV. Either way, boys are accumulating lifetime habits which might make or break their health outcomes.

Poor education is also associated with unemployment and under-employment and this, in turn, leads to worse health outcomes. The Australian Government has concluded a program which I took part in, which helped teachers understand the pressures on males. In December 2008 there was great sadness over a knife fight on a train in Sydney in which boys could not back down. One was knifed to death. Much more can be done to teach boys better ways of being male. It is unlikely that the football boofheads in the sports pages will help very much. Most footballers are perfect models of what a boy should be - not.

Junk food ads

For some reason it seems difficult to ban ads for junk food at those times when kids are preparing to eat. Could this be the power of the manufacturers and sellers of fast food? How many times have we wished for governments who will do what’s best for kids, not for lobbyists and pressure groups! What’s the problem here? Oh, I see - lots of money being used to influence everyone in sight.

And to conclude

We must congratulate Minister Nicola Roxon and the Rudd Government for bringing a men’s health policy to the fore. Much work remains to be done to help articulate men’s needs and help men live healthier lives:

First, let’s try to talk positively about men as a group, just as we talk about and encourage women as a group.

Second, let’s work harder at giving boys positive ideas about being a good man who helps others and maintains good eating and exercise habits. Resilient men survive better and can contribute more to society.

Third, it’s time to cut out all the ads for junk food which crowd the airwaves. Bite the bullet please Ms Roxon, and take the axe to these ads. We will all be grateful to you if you do.

Australia has just begun to see the start of the recession. Much more needs to be done to study those who are hardest hit and what can be done to assist them. Data is inconclusive, for it has hit hard, very fast. But further research seems likely to show that males are represented very heavily among its victims. Let’s start by getting men and health providers talking more productively.

Some statistics presented in the policy are as follows:

• life expectancy at birth for men is 78.7 years and women 83.5 years. Over the past 20 years life expectancy has improved by 5.8 years for males and 4.3 years for females.

The leading causes of death where males make up the highest proportion are:

• prostate cancer (100 per cent);
• tumours of the male genital organs (100 per cent);
• HIV disease (93.2 per cent);
• hanging, strangulation and suffocation (82.9 per cent);
• intentional self-harm (78.9 per cent);
• accidental drowning and submersion (76.6 per cent);
• transport accidents (74.7 per cent);
• bladder cancers (72.2 per cent);
• cancer of the oesophagus (69.0 per cent);
• melanoma of skin (67.7 per cent).

Males are also over represented in deaths for lung cancer, emphysema and liver diseases.