5 Strategies to Protect Your Health As a Man

5 Strategies to Protect Your Health As a Man

Did you know that nearly 14% of American men 18 and older are in either fair or poor health? Or that 6 out of 10 American adults have a chronic disease? Additionally, these numbers tend to skew higher with age.

If you’re reading this blog because you want to make some improvements in your life to support better health, Dr. Moisés Irizarry-Román and the team at No Mercy Sports Medicine in Miami, Florida, applaud this decision. And we want to help.

To that end, we’ve pulled together five great strategies that can not only safeguard your health but also improve your quality of life.

1. Seek specialized health

There are plenty of jokes about how men and women are wired differently, but biologically, there is some truth to this. Just as women seek the care of a gynecologist, men can also greatly benefit from gender-specific care. 

Dr. Irizarry-Román specializes in men’s health, and he understands the different care needs that men often have, whether it’s reproductive health or musculoskeletal health. When you're in our care, you can trust that we know what we’re looking out for and how we can best guide your health forward.

2. Maintain muscle and conditioning

Enough can’t be said about the benefits of a good exercise regimen when it comes to your health. Lack of exercise is one of the biggest risk factors for any number of issues that including:

And these are just the tip of the iceberg.

To offset this sedentary risk, we encourage you to exercise regularly — and this exercise needs to include both conditioning and strengthening programs. As a guideline, you should endeavor to get at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity each week and at least 60 minutes of strength training.

3. Improve your diet

Another risk factor that’s cited quite often is poor diet, which can lead to a wide range of serious diseases that range from heart disease to cancer.

If you want to protect your health, it’s important that you take steps to improve your nutritional habits. This means ditching the bag of chips for nuts or carrots and choosing an apple over cookies.

In other words, lose the processed foods, fast foods, and fatty foods in favor of single-ingredient foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins. 

While we’d love to see you overhaul everything, you can start small with the little snack swaps we mention above and build from there.

4. Be careful about drinking

Did you know that men drink alcohol more often than women and in greater amounts? If your evening can of beer or glass of wine has become a six-pack or a bottle, it’s time to rethink your alcohol consumption.

Booze in moderation is fine, but drinking too much can place you at risk for liver and kidney disease, certain cancers, and erectile dysfunction, to name just a few.

5. Don’t ignore mental health

When you look at mental health statistics, women often outpace men, but many researchers suggest that’s because men aren’t as willing to admit to their mental health issues.

We want to do away with this belief that men have to be strong and ignore mental health problems. Your mental health is as important as your physical health, so if you’re experiencing any issues with anxiety, depression, or anything else that’s occupying your brain more than it should, be sure to talk to someone.

Whether it’s addressing the mental or physical side of the equation, any step you take now to improve your health can place you more solidly on the path toward a healthy and happy future.

If you’d like a more tailored preventive plan for your health, it's a good idea to start with a comprehensive consultation. Contact our office by calling 305-614-6757 or using our online messaging form to book an appointment.

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