A lot more attention is given to women’s health issues such as breast cancer and cervical cancer. These are important issues but what about Men’s Health? – especially the “silent” diseases like heart disease, which are more common in men. They are often left undetected and therefore untreated.

Research shows that men generally prefer to ‘sweep health problems under the carpet’, and on average are far less likely to pay a routine visit to their doctor than women. They either don’t like to make a fuss or tend to believe that ‘it won’t happen to me’.

Most health care advisors agree that men, especially men over 40, need to be more willing to have regular health checks for their general health and for conditions like heart disease.

A man in his forties is about four times more likely to die of heart disease than a woman of the same age.

This is because until menopause, woman’s hearts are protected to a degree by the female hormone oestrogen. The risk of developing heart disease increases significantly for women after menopause, but the relative risk for men is always higher.

Age is also a factor, as the incidence of heart disease increase steadily for both men and woman as they grow older, although the symptoms of heart disease, such as angina, are fairly uncommon unti the age of 45 in men and 55 in woman. After these ages, risk increases at a steady rate – for example, the risk of a heart attack for a man of 62 is about 500 times that of a 22 year old man.

Lifestyle Factors

It is thought that men's lifestyles may be a major contributing factor to higher cholesterol levels - the favored workman's lunch of a meat pie or take-away is high in saturated fats, and after a while the body struggles to cope, especially when daily exercise decreases. This can lead to obesity, high cholesterol and heart disease.

Working together

In many UK households it is the female partner who takes responsibility for what is eaten at meal times. Many women feel responsible for their husbands or partner's health and well being, especially if he suffers from a lifestyle related illness, such as heart disease. When trying to lower cholesterol, it is important to involve the whole family.

Start a healthier eating plan that's lower in saturated fat, higher in fruits, vegetables and cereals. Take up a form of physical activity together, this can be of benefit to everyone, and make the changes in lifestyle less like a punishment and easier to keep up.

This is also the case when remembering to take medicines. If you or your partner have difficulty remembering which medicines you should be taking and when, work together - try to combine pill-taking with an activity you can do together, at the same time everyday. This could be taking a walk, walking the dog, even having breakfast together or watching the morning news.

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