by Dr Toby Ford, Ford Health

Published Newsletter Article: Agforce, September 2006

The health gap between men and women widens every year. Men die sooner. Each of the 15 leading causes of death is more likely to kill them. They shun doctors when they are sick and avoid checkups when they are well. The problems doesn't seem to be in the men's genes. When figures first started being kept in 1920, women only outlived men by a year. Ever since, women's life expectancy has increased faster than that of men. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report (2006) life expectancies at birth in Australia are 78 years for men and 83 years for women.

The question is not why women live longer than men. It is why the increase in male life expectancy has failed to keep pace with improvements in women's life expectancy.

One answer, it could be argued, is that men don't get the same kind of regular preventative healthcare as women. They don't get it partly because they don't look for it. From childhood, the sexes are taught to deal with physical pain differently. A boy who scrapes his knee is told to stop crying and be a man. But when that boy is 50 years old and having chest pain, he will say to himself, 'It's only indigestion', because he has been taught not to show when he has pain. A lot of men who don't feel well ignore it. When it comes to disease, early treatment is critical and a lot of men miss out on this opportunity. A lot of this has to do with how men define themselves in our society.

Part of what we consider "manliness" has a lot to do with being free and in charge of one's own destiny. This has implications for how men see healthcare. And yes, men's famous unwillingness to grapple with their emotions plays a role. They are more likely than women to have jobs requiring dangerous and/or strenuous exertion. When this is the case, denying pain becomes a necessary part of earning a living - and it carries over into the rest of a man's life.

What can be done? It is not honorable for men to be afraid. Men may see going to a doctor as admitting some kind of weakness or personal failure. Instead, they should see it as something that can help manage their independence and their vigor. Men could live longer, healthier lives, if they visited their local GP more often, and made a few lifestyle changes. A quarter of men have seen a doctor in the past year, and this particularly the case of younger men, who see themselves as somewhat invincible. A third of men aged 18 to 24 smoke, and almost 40% drink alcohol at risky levels. And our largely sedentary lifestyles are not helping. More than a third of us never exercise, and list 'media usage' as our most popular pastime. It apparently takes up a whopping 40% of our free time.

How would you feel if you were told at 25 that you have a biological age of 50? More than 66% of premature deaths are linked to diet-related coronary disease, stroke and cancer.

It's not that people don't know that drinking lots of water, eating plenty of fruit and vegetables, not smoking or drinking to excess is the healthiest way to live. The main problem is how to eat healthily when you're working hard, travelling or grabbing a snack at your desk. This is where excuses need to stop, and for good reason.

The quest to look younger than your age isn't just about the much-hyped vanity of the baby boomers. The World Health Organisation estimates that 40% of people in developed countries will be aged over 50 by 2010. Genetic factors account for about 30% of a person's longevity, whereas health behaviours account for around 70%. Most of us don't live nearly as long as our genes would allow. In short, if you tell someone they have a biological age of 75 when their chronological age is 45, you're going to get a much stronger reaction than just telling them to drink more water and eat more fruit and vegetables.

Its long been known that a healthy diet and regular exercise reduce risks caused by premature ageing. According to a recent study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology cutting down on kilojoules prevents ageing of the heart. Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine found that volunteers aged 41-65 who had eaten a low-kilojoule diet for six years had heart function that was up to 15 years 'younger' than their true age. Most of the study subjects had a family history of heart attacks or strokes so a low-kilojoule diet clearly had a rejuvenating effect. A University of California, Los Angeles research study found that people may be able to improve their cognitive function and brain efficiency by making simple lifestyle changes such as incorporating memory exercises, healthy eating, physical fitness, and stress reduction into their daily lives.

Having heavy thighs that keep you from squeezing into your favourite pair of jeans isn't the worst kind. For years, doctors have known that 'apple-shaped' people who store fat around the stomach suffer more from breast, colon and uterine cancers than their 'peer-shaped' cousins. Having a waist bigger than 87cm for a woman and 93cm for a man can reduce your lifespan by up to two years.

Research has also discovered that female friendship has considerable health benefits. A good support network lowers blood pressure, strengthens the immune system and promotes healing. Women are more social in the way they cope with stress, men are more likely to deal with stress with a fight or flight reaction.

One misconception that people have about living longer is that it means more years added to the end of life. Few people would say, 'If I could love longer, what I'd really like is to be old for twice as long'. Rather, most people would say, 'If I could live a little bit longer, I'd like to have a chance to reinvent myself. I'd like to have a chance to pursue some dreams that I might have put on the shelf when I was younger. I'd like to adjust the balance between work, leisure, and family, with the benefit of the kind of wisdom and experience that comes from having tried a few things out in the first half of my life'. People don't want to be old longer. They want to be young and middle-aged longer. And many would prefer to live long, healthy lives without being any particular age at all, reflecting a new kind of ageless ageing.

References

KEEPING UP APPEARANCES; (1 FIRST Edition)

Elisabeth King. Sunday Herald - Sun. Melbourne, Vic.: Mar 26, 2006. pg. B.04

American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry (2006) Simple lifestyle changes may increase cognitive function and brain efficiency, cited in Lab Business Week Aug 6; p46

Meyer T et al (2006) Long-Term Caloric Restriction Ameliorates the Decline in Diastolic Function in Humans, J American College Cardiology, 47:398-403