{"id":1477,"date":"2019-03-04T08:28:50","date_gmt":"2019-03-03T21:58:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/?p=1477"},"modified":"2019-03-21T16:41:29","modified_gmt":"2019-03-21T06:11:29","slug":"man-up-mondays-in-march-by-tim-adler-article-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.flinders.edu.au\/student-health-and-well-being\/2019\/03\/04\/man-up-mondays-in-march-by-tim-adler-article-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Man Up Mondays in March – by Tim Adler – Article 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

Tim, one of the nurses here at HCDS, who is a regular blog contributor<\/a>, approached me a while back with an idea. Inspired by a men’s health campaign he had read about in a journal article, he wanted to author a series of blog posts on men’s health. The idea was to publish one article, per week, on Mondays during the month of March – hence the name ‘Man Up Mondays in March’. <\/em><\/p>\n

The first of these articles is published below and is a call out to all men to consider getting regular health checkups. Stay tuned every Monday during March for another article (5 in total). <\/em><\/p>\n

If you want to connect with Tim in relation to any of his posts, you can email him on tim.adler@flinders.edu.au<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Editor: Gareth<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

A call out to all men<\/h1>\n

By Tim Adler<\/h2>\n

Hello! Tim here. I am one of the nurses that works in Health, Counselling and Disability Services. I\u2019ve contributed a number of posts already<\/a> to the blog on the topics of my own personal health journey, energy drinks, sleep, measures of academic success and back health.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d been discussing with Gareth ideas for future posts when I realised I wanted to do a series on men\u2019s health. This is a topic that is close to my heart, having made significant investments in my own physical and mental health over the past couple of years. I want to share what I have learned along the way with other men, with the hope that it will trigger some to take their own mental and physical health more seriously.<\/p>\n

Over the next 4 weeks I have decided to write a series of 5 articles including this one in order to promote better health for men. The inspiration for this came from a study I read that showed targeted programs can help improve men\u2019s health. One such program was called \u201cMan Up Monday!\u201d. They attached a sexual health message to a day of the week to encourage men to think about their health. So I thought I would do something similar with my posts. So welcome to Man up Mondays in March! Every Monday during March I will post a new men\u2019s health article. So without further delay, let\u2019s dig in\u2026.<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

First up, a quick congratulations to women<\/h3>\n

I want to start by saying \u2018well done\u2019 to women. As a gender they are typically far more health conscious than men. Well maybe not more health conscious, but studies have shown that women, on average, attend medical practitioners for health concerns more than men do. So my challenge to male readers is to be more proactive in pursuing their health concerns with medical practitioners and other health care providers.<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

Why is men’s health such an issue?<\/h3>\n

One of the fundamental reasons we have an issue with men\u2019s health is that men have a tendency to wait too long before seeking advice from health professionals.<\/p>\n

Supporting this is data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) which shows that:<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2007\u201308, men were less likely to report that they have GP check-ups at least annually than were women (49% compared with 62%). While there was no significant gap for those aged 65 years and over (around 86% for both men and women), the gap is mainly driven by differences in men and women aged 15\u201324 years (20% for men and 44% for women) and 24\u201344 years (36% for men and 53% for women)<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

So young men, in particular, seem to be lagging behind in getting regular health check-ups.<\/p>\n

Couple this with young mens\u2019 tendencies to engage more frequently in risk taking behaviours (e.g. unprotected sex practices, high-impact sports etc.) means health concerns can accumulate without appropriate treatment.<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

What are some common men’s health concerns?<\/h3>\n

Whilst there are many studies that look into men\u2019s health, I came across one in particular that took my interest, titled: \u00a0\u2018Identifying Male College Students\u2019 Perceived Health Needs, Barriers to seeking Help, and Recommendations to Help Men Adopt Healthier Lifestyles<\/a>\u2019 by Davies et al. In this study, participants were asked to identify which health issues they were most concerned about.<\/p>\n

Ranked in terms of how often they were endorsed, their health concerns were:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Alcohol and drug use <\/em><\/li>\n
  2. Personal Fitness<\/em><\/li>\n
  3. A tie betweeen:
    \n<\/em><\/p>\n
      \n
    1. Maintaining Desired weight (linked with either weight loss, weight gain or body image disorders)<\/em> [Yes even we men have a tendency to be concerned about the way we look]<\/em><\/li>\n
    2. Nutrition\/food (maintaining health diet, use of supplements) <\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
    3. Anger Management<\/em><\/li>\n
    4. Creating and maintaining relationships (friendships and romantic relationships)<\/em><\/li>\n
    5. A tie between:<\/em>\n
        \n
      1. Sexually transmitted diseases<\/em><\/li>\n
      2. Depression <\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
      3. A tie between:<\/em>\n
          \n
        1. Other diseases (cancer, cardiovascular, lung, etc)<\/em><\/li>\n
        2. Academic concerns<\/em><\/li>\n
        3. Sexuality (meeting one\u2019s sexual needs)<\/em><\/li>\n
        4. peer pressure<\/em><\/li>\n
        5. self-confidence<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
        6. A tie between:<\/em>\n
            \n
          1. Stress<\/em><\/li>\n
          2. How to help peers<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
          3. Grief And Loss<\/em><\/li>\n
          4. Creating and maintain personal space<\/em><\/li>\n
          5. Racism<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            Whilst this is not necessarily what the order might be here for male university students in Australia, it does highlight how diverse men\u2019s concerns about health can be.<\/p>\n

             <\/p>\n

            Barriers to seeking help<\/strong><\/h3>\n

            As I mentioned before, men have a tendency to wait longer before seeking professional advice. In the study above, this was driven by a number of factors which include:<\/p>\n