Men’s Health Month in June is the perfect time to evaluate how you or the men in your life are doing health-wise. While everyone’s circumstances and specific health concerns are different, there are still common themes that guide how we approach health at certain ages.
As always, it’s important to recognize the value of prevention. Healthy habits can build the foundation for a healthier future of reduced risks. It’s never too early to evaluate your health with the proper screenings, nor is it ever too late to benefit from targeted evaluations and relevant medical insight.
Here is a basic men’s health checklist to keep in mind.
In Your 20s
General guidance
- Find a primary care physician who’s right for you
- Avoid poor nutrition, exercise, sleep, and substance routines common at this age
- Maintain healthy weight to prevent cardiovascular problems, other issues
- Practice good sexual health and be screened for STIs
Medical recommendations
- Check skin for irregularities and changing moles
- Create a family medical history to know risks around issues like heart disease
Lifestyle
- Exercise: Fitness this decade can help prevent everything from diabetes to bone loss later
- Find sport or physical activity you like to cultivate community, habits around fitness
- Eat healthy: Develop nutritional intelligence and get into habit of eating balanced meals
- Learn to cook simple, heathy meals rather than falling into easier (less healthy) takeout/junk
- Learn to practice good sleep hygiene
- Mental health struggles high among young adults, so be aware of status and potential help
In Your 30s
General guidance
- Reduce stress: Heightened work and family obligations can be disruptive to mental health
- Flexibility decreases, especially with sedentary career
- Increasing chances for skin and testicular cancer without proper monitoring
- Less time to exercise means danger of weight gain and associated health risks
Medical recommendations
- Be aware of new potential screenings, such as Cardiovascular (Framingham) Risk Assessment, which uses blood pressure, family history, laboratory tests to gauge 10-year heart disease risk
- Know your critical “numbers” – BMI, cholesterol, blood pressure
Lifestyle
- Engage in weight-bearing exercises to keep your bones strong even as they begin to lose density
- Take breaks from staring at screen throughout work day to preserve eye health
- Incorporate stretching to help with flexibility
- Resist temptation to let diet become unhealthy amid growing work and family time constraints
- Try to maintain good sleep hygiene, especially with more disruptive work and family obligations
- Quit smoking if you haven’t already; the longer the habit persists, higher the chance of illness
In Your 40s
General guidance
- Rising risks for conditions including hypertension, heart disease, and enlarged prostate
- Often correlates to peak stress — and poor sleep/exercise — with work and family
- Gradually worsening eyesight and hearing
- Slowing metabolism contributes to body changes & chances of diabetes, other ailments
Medical recommendations
- Talk to doctor about prostate and colon health risks
- Cardiovascular fitness assessment becomes more important as gauge of heart health
Lifestyle
- Make time to exercise, even in short bursts fit into a busy schedule
- Strength train for bone health
- Eat breakfast every morning to boost metabolism
- Consume calcium and vitamin D to lower osteoporosis risk
- Meditate or use breathing techniques for stress control
In Your 50s
General guidance
- Heart disease — as incidence rate rises, knowing how to mitigate risks with healthy lifestyle
- Cognition — memory and other brain functions can begin to slip
- Colon cancer — risk for disease jumps, important to get screened
Medical recommendations
- Go to an ophthalmologist for yearly evaluations to check for eye disease, even if vision is OK
- Talk to doctor about prostate and colon health risks
- Ankle Brachial Index (ABI) evaluates for vascular disease in peripheral arteries (arms and legs)
- Important, as plaque buildup can occur outside heart, and peripheral vascular disease can be painful and dangerous
Lifestyle
- Make regular diet and exercise even more of a priority to prevent heart disease
- Stay flexible and fit with joint-friendly fitness options like swimming or yoga
- Protect digestive and cardiovascular health with a smarter diet as risks rise
- Get more calcium and adopt a low-inflammatory diet to counter loss of bone density
- “Exercise” your brain to slow the early effects of cognitive decline
In Your 60s and Beyond
General guidance
- Arthritis and joint pain becoming more common
- Hearing loss and worsening eyesight
- Weaker immune response creating a higher susceptibility to illness
- Greater risk of exercise injury — balance issues and weaker bones, muscles
- Potential complications from increased variety of medications
- Development of digestive issues (reflux, constipation, dehydration)
Medical recommendations
- Consult with your doctor on vitamins, daily aspirin, and other adjustments to regimen
- Make sure to get all the screenings needed as age advances (heart, lung, bone health)
Lifestyle
- Walk more: It boosts oxygen intake and helps everything from joints to blood sugar
- Reboot your routine: Try exercises that are lower-impact while keeping muscles strong
- Limit salt to protect vascular health
- Talk to physician about vitamin D and calcium supplements for bone health
- Focus on cognitive health by taking up a new hobby or otherwise staying mentally engaged
- Exercise regularly, as physical fitness keeps the brain sharp