Men go for preventive annual check-ups less often, they also visit specialists less often and, most importantly, they also live much shorter than women - on average about a decade.
What is the reason for the under-representation of men in doctor's surgeries? It is difficult to give a clear answer as to why male members of the sex do not often check their health.
Perhaps it is dictated by the stereotype that every man should endure all health impairments without complaining too much. Some people are so much a believer in this sad and contrived rule that they downplay any ailments and reduce them to the status of being unimportant and having no impact on their health. After all, masculinity is expressed by refraining from complaining when it actually hurts - yes, acutely!
Who knows, however, maybe the fear of visiting the doctor is more correlated with a feeling of some kind of shame rather than a reluctance to share one's health problems with a specialist (sic!)? When going to the doctor, each of us guys must equip ourselves with the truism that nothing human is alien to the doctor (repeated after Terezentius). If what ails just you, in your eyes, seems to be one of the biggest abnormalities, don't fret over it. You are not a doctor to make such judgements, and advice found in the depths of the Internet can mislead you ridiculously easily. You will then make the mistake that many of us have already experienced. You will be convinced that you are ill (or not) with something completely different, which may in fact be destroying you from the inside.
Let's face it, the statement "may be endangering your health" is a euphemism. After all, when you hear that something (unnamed and therefore even more frightening) may be threatening you, it is most likely that at that very moment some disease entity is already wreaking havoc on your body. But, but - you owe it to yourself. How many times have you had conversations with yourself in your mind, repeating that it is not yet the right time to go to the doctor. A few? Dozens or hundreds! After all, you get around on your own two feet, you fulfil your duties at work, and you manage on social grounds too. And if it sometimes stings, wounds or pops - so be it! There is no need to worry. It hurts, it hurts and it stops... No. Nor is there any point in an attitude of complete trust in one's own body. It (the body) sometimes simply deceives its owners regardless of age: from under-age girls to guys in their prime. After all, there are times when one feels great, lies down with a smile on one's lips and a head full of plans for tomorrow, and does not live to see tomorrow.
photo: panthermedia
It is customary to include in texts of similar ointment the results of studies which, meticulously counted and taking the form of percentages, cause at least atrial fibrillation in those who read them. One has to wonder whether a man living in the 21st century surely needs this form of motivation to take his health into his own strong hands and do what he needs to do with it. After all, we are aware of and want to be as aware as possible of what is going on around us. The area 'around us' includes, first and foremost, the issue concerning our health.
To paraphrase a well-known Latin maxim: Men, cura te ipsum*. If something ails someone, the healing process starts with a visit to a specialist's surgery. Read: from the guy himself, who grabs the phone, dials the right number and, when he hears the pleasant voice informing him that he has been connected to the clinic, does not get frightened and his forehead does not break into a bead of sweat. Then, in obedience to his own desire to check on his health, he politely goes to his appointment with the doctor. Full stop. If, on the other hand, the person thinks he or she is fine, it is quite possible that he or she is not experiencing symptoms or - not yet! - not yet! In view of this, the principle of cura te ipsum applies once again. Curing oneself is strongly linked to making that trivial phone call to the local clinic and making an appointment to go there. This will start with a basic check-up, which will either allow for the man's favourite "I told you so?" conundrum, or be the trigger for more complex action on the level of someone else's health.
There is so much undisguised truth in the statement that it's easier to prevent conditions than to treat them. A smart guy certainly knows this. He is also capable of overcoming obstacles - whether these are in his own imagination or are definitely real - and facing the diagnosis made by a specialist, and not by fortune-tellers or other experts on everything and everywhere.
Men, let's get tested! And when we hear the famous retort: "Get yourself, Lord, examined!" Let us eagerly reply: "Well, I will". Let us also encourage our nearest and dearest, who belong to the noble and unique body of the uglier sex, to do so. After all, spring is coming and the world is colouring up again.
* A paraphrase of the famous Medice, cura te ipsum(Physician, cure yourself).
