June is Men’s Health Month, a time to raise awareness about preventable health issues and encourage men to take the steps toward better physical and mental well-being. With heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and mental health being four health risks for men to watch out for, Vice President Chief Medical Officer at OSF Holy Family, St. Mary, and St. Luke, Dr. Mark Meeker, reminds that scheduling those screenings are very important:
“Early detection is so important, but there are also risk factors that people can have and develop diseases they are unaware of. Even in adolescents and teenagers, we like to keep an eye on their blood pressure, get a baseline cholesterol level to make sure there is no genetics leading to high cholesterol to cause premature heart disease, and body weight is a big one. Then when you get into your 40s, things get a little more serious, because as we age, we are at a higher risk of certain chronic illnesses and diseases. We start cancer screenings for colon cancer at age 45 now. Prostate cancer screenings, that is a complicated one. There is a lot of nuances with prostate cancer, there is a whole wide range of prostate cancer, but prostate cancer screenings we start around age 50. Then, of course, there are lung cancer screenings. Lung cancer is also very unique. Lung cancer is very lethal when it is not diagnosed until a later stage. We have excellent screening modalities now to find it early.”
Dr. Meeker informs some simple things men can do to improve their health are walking 30 minutes a day, eating more whole foods, getting seven to nine hours of sleep a night, reduce alcohol consumption, quit smoking, and most importantly, scheduling checkups with your primary care physician.
