It might be a family joke, Mom having to book Dad’s doctor appointments or otherwise he won’t go. But is the stereotype true? Are men not taking charge of their own health?
In many cases, no, they are not. A 2019 study found just half of men made regular preventative care appointments, and among those who did actually go, 20% confessed to not being honest with their doctor.
Unwillingness to change habits, fear of what the doctor might find, societal pressure to be a stoic, tough-it-out kind of guy, embarrassment—there are lots of reasons, but the effect is the same: Preventable or treatable issues like prostate cancer, heart disease and poor mental health go undetected for too long.
With June being Men’s Health Month, we rounded up some must-know tips for those doctor-shy guys and their loved ones:
What problems are men setting themselves up for when they avoid the doctor for so long?
Heart disease and stroke, COPD, liver disease—men are especially susceptible to a variety of illness that are best detected quickly and treated early.
“From infancy to old age, women are simply healthier than men,” says WebMD. “Out of the 15 leading causes of death, men lead women in all of them except Alzheimer’s disease, which many men don’t live long enough to develop. Although the gender gap is closing, men still die five years earlier than their wives, on average.”
Guess what the recommendation is? You guessed it: Book a regular doctor’s checkup. Don’t wait until you’re perhaps literally at death’s door to ring the office for an appointment.
You could run out there and fix those gender norms dictating that men work through the pain and view sickness as weakness—and you definitely should!—but if the reluctant man in your life will need a prostrate exam before you can get that done, you could go the old-fashioned route and just book it for him.
How might a loved one encourage a man to take more proactive charge of their health?
Nothing beats the straightforward simplicity of just hijacking someone’s schedule, no matter how annoying that might be, but people have lots of other novel recommendations.
You might sit down and really tell them how this doctor’s office foot dragging could affect you and other loved ones if they don’t get with the program. Model good behavior by booking your own appointments and taking care of your own health. Throw some stats at them! Or prep them ahead of time so they know what to expect and don’t try to back out.
Whatever tactic you choose, good luck. We’ll be waiting, and we promise to be gentle.