Men’s Health Week 2022

Men's Health Week runs from from 13-19 June 2022. We care about the health of our staff and our Employee Assistance Package is designed to support the wellbeing of our employees & their families.

But did you know:
⮞ In the UK, one man in five dies before the age of 65
⮞ Men are nearly twice as likely as women to die prematurely from diabetes
⮞ In the UK, 1 in 7 men die from coronary heart disease
⮞ Males aged 45-49 continue to have the highest suicide rate
⮞ In the UK, 1 in 8 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime

To help support Mens Health Week the Virtual Village Hall by the Royal Voluntary Service is providing a line-up of FREE content dedicated to supported men's mental and physical wellbeing.

If you’re unable to join any of the sessions LIVE, you can watch back at any time on their Facebook Page, YouTube channel and Website.

Another initive for Mens Health Week is the Man MOT from the Men's Health Forum:

Your car gets one regularly but what about you? No, not a speeding ticket, an MOT.

Giving your body a once-over doesn’t require any spanners and needn’t cost a penny. If you’re worried about the results of any of the following tests, see your GP.

Test 1: Is your engine tuned?

First, check your pulse. Place the finger of one hand on the thumb side of the tendons running through the opposite wrist. You should be able to feel the radial artery pumping. Count the beats over four 15 second periods and add them up. This is your resting pulse – a good guide to the heart’s efficiency. Joggers and other fitness enthusiasts will get very excited about resting pulse and try to get it as low as possible.

Then, check your recovery rate. Step on and off a step for three minutes (average a step every three seconds) and rest for 30 seconds before taking your pulse again. This is your pulse after exercise.

The table below shows you what sort of results you should be getting for your age:

If you’re in or close to the unfit range, you need to think about whether you’re taking enough exercise. Read the Get Fit section. (If you’re older, very overweight or have an existing health problem, check with your GP before starting an exercise programme.)

• The NHS also offers a more detailed What's Your Heart Age? tool.

Test 2: Are you overloaded? 

The simplest guide to whether you’re carrying too much weight is your waist measurement. This gives you a fair idea of your risk regardless of height. Measure around your belly at the widest point - usually around your belly button:

• over 37 inches, you’re probably overweight and at increased risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer - check out the Get Fit section 
• over 40 inches, you could be obese and at serious risk of the conditions mentioned - talk to a GP or health professional

If you’re putting on weight, see the Get Fit section. But if you have been losing weight for no apparent reason, it may be a sign of something serious, see your GP. 

Test 3: Look out for dashboard 'warning lights'

Check yourself all over for:

• moles changing shape (more detail here), 
• unexplained lumps, 
• unexplained shortness of breath/breathing difficulties
• unexplained pain (especially in the chest)
• swelling or itching, 
• a cough that won’t go away, 
• blood where it shouldn’t be (in saliva when you spit or stools when you crap)
• changes in bowel habits (such as blood in stools, diarrhoea or constipation for no reason, a feeling of bloating or of not having fully emptied your bowels or pain in your stomach or back passage - more detail here)

If you have any of these talk to your GP.

Test 4: Wobbly gear stick?

Erection problems are common. We can't always get an erection when we want one. What we’re talking about here are regular problems getting an erection or keeping one.

It’s not only your sex life that may be threatened. Erection problems can be an early warning sign of a number of serious health problems including heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and depression. They could also be sign of high cholesterol or low testosterone. Again, talk to your GP.  (For a full penis health MOT download the free manual, Size Isn't Everything.)

Test 5: Check the water

Is there any change in how often you pee or how easy it is? Do you get up more often at night?

Peeing more often, especially at night, and less easily with a weaker flow can be signs of prostate enlargement (more detail on prostate symptoms here). Prostate enlargement is not necessarily a sign of cancer but it needs to be checked (Prostate Cancer UK have a simple cancer risk checker tool.)

Peeing more often, especially at night, along with being overweight, tiredness and sores healing more slowly may all be signs of diabetes. Get your blood sugar tested.

Test 6: Day-to-day performance

How are you feeling? Are you motoring along smoothly? Try the How Are You Really quiz. And check out the How Are You hub. 

Test 7: Check your pressure

You can take your blood pressure at the GP - there’s probably a machine in the surgery waiting room - or you can buy a home-tester. 

BP - as they say in the hospital dramas - is given as two figures. The first is when the heart is contracting (systolic), the second when it is resting (diastolic). 120/70 would be fine for a young man. Once the systolic starts getting up towards 140 and/or the diastolic to 90, you need to monitor your BP more often. Of course, any stress can raise your BP temporarily but if you’re getting regular readings of 140/90 or more, see your GP.

Anything else

You might want to monitor your balls for any changes. Testicular cancer is the most common cancer in men aged 20-35 but if caught in time it can be effectively treated and deaths are rare. (More details here.)

Is that it?

Pretty much. Congratulate yourself if you've completed all seven tests. Make an appointment if you need to or use NHS 111. 

If you want to take it further and give yourself a fuller MOT, the Men's Health Forum publishes two easy-to-use interactive Man MOT manuals which go into this in more detail and provide tools to monitor your health:

• Man MOT
• Man MOT For The Mind

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